(Cove - California)

Henry Varnum Poor

Henry Varnum Poor graduated from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California in 1906, returning to teach from 1911 to '18. This early oil painting of California is from that early, tonalist period, influenced by his training at the Slade School in London and with Whistler student Walter Sickert.

Art historian George Meredith wrote in “Art and Soul: Henry Varnum Poor” in Modernism Magazine, Spring 2003: “Poor was knocked out by what he saw (at London's Grafton Gallery exhibition of 1910, 'Monet and the Post-Impressionists'…..and the influence of Cezanne and Matisse, in particular is apparent in much of his work from then on… In notes he scribbled at the show, his admiration is clear: 'Paul Gauguin…Dark grey blue sky…dark raw greens…vermilions…things outlined…design perfect….Deep greens….Values perfect.'"

Henry Varnum Poor also excelled as a ceramicist, muralist, architect and teacher.