Edithe Beutler: Beautifying Hawaii with Color

An inspiring chronicle of creativity, resilience, and entrepreneurship

It is impossible to replicate Hawaii’s beauty in grayscale. Which is why, before the invention of color film in 1942, fine artists were hired to colorize black and white photographs. Edithe Beutler was one of the best.

In 1934, after enjoying a career as an in-demand colorist for universities, corporations, and universities, Beutler partnered with Eastman Kodak in Hawaii. In Honolulu, she began teaching the public oil painting of black-and-white images of Hawaiian beaches and flowers, selling these colorized photos for Kodak, and painting geographical maps of the South Pacific for the US Government before WWII.

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