David Howard Hitchcock was born May 15, 1861, in
Hilo, Hawaii. Since his father was also named David Howard Hitchcock (1831–1899), he generally went by D. Howard Hitchcock. His mother was Almeda Eliza Widger (1828–1895). His paternal grandparents were missionaries
Harvey Rexford Hitchcock (1800–1855) and Rebecca Howard (1808–1890). His father was a lawyer who served in the
legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and his sister
Almeda Eliza Hitchcock Moore (1863–1895) was the first woman lawyer in Hawaii. His uncle
Edward Griffin Hitchcock (1837–1898) married Mary Tenney Castle, daughter of
Castle & Cooke founder
Samuel Northrup Castle. His cousin once removed (Edward Griffin's grandson) was football player
Harvey Rexford Hitchcock Jr. After graduating from
Punahou School, Hitchcock attended
Oberlin College in
Ohio, where he saw his first art exhibition. Back in Hawaii, he wandered the volcano wilderness with a sketch pad and watercolors. French artist
Jules Tavernier, painting in Hawaii, saw Hitchcock's sketches and convinced him to study art seriously. After Tavernier's death in 1889 Hitchcock studied painting at the
National Academy of Design in New York City and from 1891 to 1893 at the
Académie Julian in Paris under Aldolphe Bourguereau and Gabriel Joseph Ferrier. His work was accepted at the Paris Salon of 1893. He returned to Hawaii in 1893. an active art program in
Honolulu at the turn of the century, exhibiting at least twice a year. He married Hester Judd Dickson (August 30, 1865 – November 24, 1921) on June 16, 1898, at the
Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew, Honolulu. Her maternal grandfather was
Gerrit Parmele Judd (1803–1873), an early missionary physician to Hawaii. During extensive travels in the 1900s, Hitchcock explored the volcanic regions of
the island of Hawaii, and in July 1907 he made his first visit to the
island of Kauai, where he painted
Waimea Canyon. He toured and painted the island of
Maui in 1915 and 1916. He was a leading member of Hawaii's
Volcano School, and his most important paintings date from about 1905 to 1930. '' His paintings were exhibited at the
Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition in Seattle in 1909, where he was awarded a prize. In June 1910, he sailed for California and painted for several weeks around
Mill Valley in
Marin County. In July, he held a one-man exhibition at Schussler Brothers Gallery in San Francisco and received positive reviews in the
San Francisco Call. He spent the remainder of July and August at
Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, where he painted and exhibited his oils and watercolors at the Fourth Annual of the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club. Thereafter he traveled to Los Angeles and the East Coast to display his paintings. In 1912, 1913, 1920 and 1924, he returned to San Francisco to exhibit at several commercial galleries, including Vickery, Atkins & Torrey, the St. Francis Hotel, and Rabjohn & Morcom. His work was also included in the art galleries at San Francisco's
Panama–Pacific International Exposition of 1915. Later, he traveled to New York City, painting dramatic views of Hawaii for the new steamers Haleakala and Malolo of the
Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company. During the late 1920s, his style became more
impressionistic. His canvases were displayed in 1924 at the First Hawaiian and South Seas Exhibition in the Los Angeles Museum in Exposition Park. In 1927, he exhibited several paintings at the opening of the
Honolulu Museum of Art, where he had a retrospective exhibition in 1936. In 1939, he exhibited in the
Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco and at the
1939 New York World's Fair. ==Death and legacy==