William Hodges (1744-1797) was an English painter. He was also a member of Captain James Cook's second voyage to the Pacific Ocean - hired as Cook's 'landskip painter' - and is best known for the sketches and paintings of locations he visited on that voyage. Tuhituhi: William Hodges, Cook's Painter in the South Pacific arises from the voyage and is a study of Hodges' art, which opens fresh theoretical perspectives on the representational problems raised by the early paintings produced in the South Pacific. Tuhituhi argues that it is possible to read the texts and visual material produced from early South Seas encounters as moments of cross-cultural exchange that challenge postcolonial complacencies. In a detailed exploration of the background and in the close readings of individual paintings, the book sets forth some fresh contexts for interpreting assumptions about the representation of the Pacific islands and the South Seas. Tuhituhi is presented in sections that follow the geographical and chronological progress of Cook's ocean voyage on the HMS Resolution, for which William Hodges was hired as the official artist. Painters like Hodges found themselves staring again and again in disbelief at landscapes and seascapes that stretched 18th-century conventions of painting, such as the 'picturesque, ' the 'sublime, ' and the 'beautiful.' Each chapter of Tuhituhi focuses on the close reading of a significant painting of a South Pacific location by Hodges.

The last chapter considers the important influence of Hodges' work on a series of paintings by the major 20th-century New Zealand painter Colin McCahon. "Enhanced with full color illustrations throughout, as well as copious footnotes, and extensive bibliography, and a comprehensive index, "Tuhituhi: William Hodges, Cook's Painter in the South Pacific" is a welcome and seminal addition to academic library 18th Century Art History reference collections and supplemental reading lists." The Midwest Book Review, Library Bookwatch, August 201.