Henry Rankin POORE
1859–1940, USA

Poore was born in Newark, NJ, on 21 March 1859. He studied for a year at the National Academy of Design in New York City, then until 1880 with Peter Moran (qv) at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. During this period he sold some illustration work to Harper's Weekly; he also traveled in the West with Moran, painting in the Colorado mining country and in Taos, NM. He went to Paris, France, in 1883 and studied further there with Evariste Vital Luminais and William Adolphe Bouguereau. After a tour of Europe, Poore began teaching at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 1888, while an Associate of the National Academy, he painted a composition of polo, The Opening Charge, Hutton Park. Poore, along with William Gaul (qv), Peter Moran (qv), Julian Scott (qv), and Walter Shirlaw (qv), was commissioned by the US government to take a census of the Native American population in 1890; their findings, including illustrations by the artists, was entitled Report on Indians Taxed and Not Taxed. In 1891 Poore returned to Paris for a year, then went to England, where he became interested in foxhunting subjects. By 1908 the Radnor Hunt of Malvern, PA had commissioned Poore to paint three of its standout hounds, Radnor Leader, Radnor Link, and Radnor Stroller, all in a single composition. He taught during the summers at the Old Lyme (CT) artists' colony starting in 1900, and was the author of Principles of Composition, Conception of Art, Art Principles in Practice, Modern Art: Why, What and How?, and other works on art criticism. He was best known as an animal painter, often depicting hounds in the field, although he also painted portraits, landscapes, and historical subjects. His 1929 portrait of the National Champion Mary Blue, a pointer bitch, was illustrated in National Field Trial Champions. Many hound subjects were reproduced as lithographs, both colored and uncolored, often signed in pencil by the artist.

Poore was a member of the National Academy of Design, the Society of Animal Painters and Sculptors, the Salmagundi Club, the Lotos Club, the American Federation of Artists, and the National Arts Club, all in New York City; the Lyme (CT) Art Association; the Union International des Beaux-Arts et des Lettres in Paris; and other societies. He received medals at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY, in 1901; the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, MO, in 1904; the American Art Society in New York City in 1906; Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1910; and the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, CA, in 1915. At the National Academy of Design he showed such works as his Burro Train Leaving the Pueblo of Taos in 1882, Hounds in the Brush in 1892, Winter Shepherd in 1906, and Mrs. Allen Potts of Virginia: Her Horses and Hounds in 1911. At the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts his exhibits included Baying Hounds in 1885, The Wounded Hound in 1898, Steeplechase in 1916 and Veterans: Kennel Portraits in 1930. He also exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, showing such works as Fox Hounds in 1888 and On the Moors, Barney's Joy in 1913; the Paris Salon; the Boston (MA) Art Club; the American Watercolor Society in New York City; and the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, PA. The Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventory of American Paintings lists a number of his works, among them his Oxen Resting and A Hunter Out with His Dogs. The Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, NY, has his The Hound. Other institutions holding his work include the St. Louis Art Museum, the Worcester (MA) Museum of Art, the Philadelphia (PA) Art Club, the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, and the National Museum of New Zealand.

Poore died in Orange, NJ, on 15 August 1940.

Source: http://www.redfoxfineart.com