WAIMEA — In 1959, Bernard Nogues, a 20-year-old student from Paris, set sail for America. It was a nine-day trip aboard a small Victory ship but worth it, considering the life-long adventure he found waiting on the other side.
Nogues first worked as a Spanish and French teacher in the eastern U.S. before following a friend to Hawaii. Crossing another ocean, the Pacific this time, he was hired as a teacher and coach at Hawaii Preparatory School (HPA) in Waimea in 1966.
After just four years, Nogues was promoted to be the school’s director of admissions and financial aid officer, a job he held for the next 18 years. His creativity and forward thinking in the position led to an increase in paid enrollments at the school, which was just 21 years old at the time and short on legacy endowments.
The pinnacle of his success in this job, however, was the establishment of the HPA biennial art auction to raise money for school scholarships.
Nogues recruited Mrs. Anna Lindsey Perry-Fiske — the renowned “First Lady of Ranching” in Hawaii — to serve as the auction general manager with himself as auction director. The two worked together for the next 20 years successfully holding auctions every year other without fail. After her passing, Nogues continued the auctions until 2015.
Looking to do even more, the innovative art-centric Nogues trumped himself by coming up with an even bigger idea: envisioning and establishing a permanent art center to benefit HPA. The Isaacs Art Center (IAC), named after its largest benefactors George and Shirley Isaacs, opened in 2004.
Located in an historic building in the heart of Waimea, IAC has developed a reputation as one of the most important collections of Hawaiian art in the state. The center is part of HPA and operates on a mission to raise money for the school’s scholarship fund, while simultaneously providing the community access to significant Hawaiian art, books and sculpture.
Nogues was the IAC founder and director from 2002-2012, and while he “officially” retired then he still serves as director emeritus.
Nogues began his career as a teacher because that was the opportunity available at the time. But his sensibilities and Parisian upbringing, along with his appreciation for the beauty of the world around him, meant art had to be part of his life.
“When you are raised in a place like Paris, you are so overwhelmed with art around you it is difficult to ignore, whether it’s the architecture of the buildings or the street lamps which are art nouveau,” he said. “The number of art museums in Paris is also overwhelming.”
On a personal level, Nogues likely inherited his passionate love for art from his grandmother who was both an admirer and collector. Growing up, there was a staggering amount of fine art and collectibles in his home and her home. For example, around the table in his family dining room were Louis XIV antique on which they sat for dinner. And on the wall was a painting of Louis XIV and his family.
“You grow up with art and if it surrounds you, it sort of imbibes you,” Nogues said.
Nevertheless, he did not major in art, nor can he draw or paint. But he was a teacher and thus tried to learn all he could about art.
“Throughout all my life, I have always read about art,” Nogues said. “There is a large accumulation of art magazines in our bedroom and I used to read them every night, from the first page to the last. I was fascinated by it.”
He is married to the former Mary-Alice Kawai, granddaughter of the well-known paniolo Harry Kawai of Waimea. The couple lives in the home built by her grandfather in 1938, and have kept many of the home’s original features intact, including a dining room showcasing the narrow tongue-and-groove construction of the era.
The home is well appointed with a wide variety of art, furniture and other pieces collected by Nogues from his years traveling throughout Southeast Asia and to parts of Saudi Arabia to recruit children to HPA of Americans working for oil companies in remote places. He also attracted Australian and New Zealand students that were living with their families in Papua New Guinea, and was personally hosted in the home of the country’s prime minister.
In retrospect, Nogues is immensely grateful for a career that has been as fulfilling as it has been filled with beauty.
He is grateful to live in Hawaii, the beauty of which he still appreciates every day, and for the opportunity to have worked in the IAC where he was surrounded by beautiful art every day.
“There’s a saying, ‘Nature hates the void,’ which doesn’t make any sense scientifically but which I think means we are ill at ease in front of empty walls,” Nogues said. “I think deep down in us, we want to have something around us, made by us; something crafted by mankind. It gives us profound joy and a profound sense of balance.”
He continued, “The house where I now spend my days is pleasant and restful, and I’m happy in it, I think thanks to the art. And for the 10 years I was the IAC director, I was very happy in the gallery.”
Equally grateful are the countless HPA scholarship students who have benefited from the work by a boy from Paris, who arrived in Hawaii 50 years ago and devoted himself to a life of service and art.