The Marks Project - A Marks Dictionary of American Studio Pottery, 1946 to Present

Henry Varnum Poor

1887 Born Chapman, Kansas

1970 Died Crow House Rockland, New York

EDUCATION

—Painting, Slade School, London, England

—Painting, Academie Julien, Paris, France

1910 BA Stanford University, Palo Alto, California

PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

1911-1912Stanford University, Palo Alto, California

1920-1970 Studio Potter

Henry Varnum Poor is best known for his thrown earthenware domestic work especially plates and bowls which were glazed with metallic oxides on slip, often with the addition of sgraffito.

Still lifes, pastoral scenes, portraits and figures were his subjects and reflected his training as a painter and his postimpressionist paintings. He also created many painted and tiled murals in public buildings including the Departments of Justice and the Interior in Washington, D.C.

After returning from World War I, Poor traveled to NYC to sell his paintings. During that time he was introduced to ceramics which became his creative focus from the 1920s onward. Poor is considered one of the first studio potters in the USA. His lifestyle embodied the Studio Crafts Movement. Poor lived and worked for over 50 years at Crow House where he designed and built his home, studio and out buildings.

Poor was one of four founders and the first president of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Madison, Maine.

Public Collections

The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Brooklyn Museum, New York, New York

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Yor, New York

The Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey

Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, Kansas

Bibliography

Clark, Garth and Margie Hughto. A Century of Ceramics in the United States: A Study of It’s Development. Syracuse, NY: Everson Museum with E.P. Dutton and Co. Inc., 1979.

Levin, Elaine. The History of American Ceramics: From Pipkins and Bean Pots to Contemporary Forms. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams Inc., Publishers, 1988.

Poor, Henry Varnum. A Book of Pottery: From Mud into Immorality. New York, NY: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1958.

Stiegleder, Linda. “Henry Varnum Poor 1887-1970.” American Craft 44, no. 1 (February/March 1984).

Southern Highland Craft Guild

Typical Marks

Henry Varnum Poor’s ceramics are typically signed with a linked HVP in which the center V is formed by the right vertical of the H and the vertical of the P angled downward and joined to form the V. Poor adopted this linked HVP mark in the mid to late 1920's, and used it on all his ceramics going forward. In his earlier career he sometimes signed with a straight "HP" in color on the face of the work. He signed his paintings "HV Poor". (Peter Poor, son of Henry Varnum Poor, 3/10/2017)