Helen Thomas Dranga

For persons of a similar name, see Helen Thomas (disambiguation).

Helen Thomas Dranga (1866–1927), who is also known as Carrie Helen Dranga, was a British/American painter who made paintings of Hawaii.

Caroline Helen Thomas Dranga
Helen T. Dranga, 1922
Born	Caroline Helen Thomas (1866-12-28)December 28, 1866 Oxford, England
Died	1927 Hawaii
Resting place	San Diego
Nationality	English-American
Education	Kensington Art Academy (Royal College of Art)
Known for	Painting
Movement	Hawaiian landscapes
Spouse	Theodore T. Dranga

Personal life

Born Caroline Helen Thomas^{[1][nb 1]} in Oxford, England on December 28, 1866.^[2][3][4] The daughter of Mary Ann Webb and Robert Thomas,^[5] a plumber, painter and decorator. She studied art at the Kensington Art Academy (Royal College of Art).^[6]

She came to the United States in 1892^[7] and on December 16, 1895 she married Theodore Dranga,^[8] a merchant who was born in Wisconsin in 1867 to parents who had immigrated from Norway.^[8][9] She lived in Oakland, California from 1894 until 1900, when she moved to Hawaii and in 1901 settled in Hilo, Hawaii.^[3][8] The Drangas had two children, Theodore Thomas born in 1901 and an adopted daughter, Mary born about 1902. Both children were born in Hawaii.^[9]

In 1927 she lived in Honolulu and worked there as an artist.^[10]

Career

She painted the Hawaiian landscape with a "remarkably sensitive touch".^[6] She also painted portraits and skyscrapers.^[11][12] Her paintings regularly appeared on the cover of Paradise of the Pacific magazine in the 1920s and 1930s,^[3] such as the Golden Shower Tree published in a 1927 edition.^[13] She lived in Hilo and then moved in the 1920s to Honolulu, where she died on January 3, 1927.^[3]

The Hawaii State Art Museum, the Honolulu Museum of Art and the Lyman House Memorial Museum (Hilo, Hawaii) are among the public collections holding works by Helen Thomas Dranga.^[3][14] Her works were included in Encounters with paradise: views of Hawaii and its people, 1778-1941 in 1992.^[15] Her paintings were said to "seem to reflect the romantic view of Hawaii" at a show at the Hawaii State Art Museum in 2014 of early 20th century paintings of Hawaii.^[16]

• 
  View from Makiki, oil on board
• 
  Portrait of a Polynesian Girl, oil on canvas painting by Helen Thomas Dranga, c. 1910
• 
  Ohia Lehua Blossoms, undated, gouache

• 
  Kaneohe Bay, Oahu. oil on board
• 
  Casting a Net, oil on canvas
• 
  Scene from Hilo Looking Toward Hamakua Coast, oil on canvas

Notes

1. Her name surname is given in a few places as "Tufts" but her name is generally recorded as "Carrie Helen Thomas Dranga" or "Helen Thomas Dranga", never Carrie Helen/Helen Tufts Dranga. Further, her son was named Theodore Thomas Dranga, not Theodore Tufts Dranga (considering an option that she was born with the surname Tufts and had a first marriage to a man surnamed Thomas.)