Spirit of Aloha | Articles | Books | November/December 2001

Adventures in Dining
By Bob Dye

Photographic Odyssey

Francis Haar: A Lifetime of Images is a loving tribute from a son to his brilliant photographer father

Tom Haar's love for his father, the brilliant photographer and filmmaker Francis Haar, and for his mother, Irene, is apparent on each page of this handsome volume. Few sons are given the opportunity to pay such a fine tribute to their parents. Fewer of us have the talent.

The black and white photographs, presented chronologically and geographic-
ally, are beautiful documents of the times and places of Francis Haar's full life. The artistic odyssey begins in Haar's native Hungary (1908-1937) and ends with his final decades and death in Hawai'i (1960-1997). In between are Paris (1937-1939), Japan (1940-1960) and Chicago (1956-1959).

The Hawai'i section contains photos of some of the state's treasures-dancer 'Iolani Luahine, painter Madge Tennent, writer and artist Jean Charlot and artist Juliette May Fraser. There are also the faces of plain folks.

Originally intended by Francis Haar to be a summation of his career, the book went unfinished when age and illness overwhelmed the life of the famous man. His son then took on the awesome task of finishing what his father had begun. The result is inspiring. Everyone involved in the project apparently caught the essence of the man.

The text is outstanding. Interspersed in Haar's narrative are excerpts from his wife's autobiographical notes. The union of styles is tenderly done. The single-page introduction by novelist James Michener, a friend of the Haars in Tokyo and Honolulu, is better written than any single page in his famous epic Hawai'i.
Folks from Kailua will remember "Irene's Hungarian Restaurant." And kids from Kamehameha Schools will remember her 13 years as their dining hall manager.
All of us who witness Francis Haar's life through the pages of this wonderful book will be rewarded.

Francis Haar: A Lifetime of Images, edited by Tom Haar, designed and produced by Barbara Pope Book Design. A Latitude 20 Book, University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu, 2001. $49.

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