Horatio Poole was known as an accomplished painter and muralist. He worked on many commissioned projects and was also a teacher for many years.

Poole was born in Haddonfield, New Jersey in 1884. He and his family relocated to Pennsylvania when he was ten years old. Poole lived in Philadelphia and studied at the local School of Industrial Design. He went on to attend classes at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Art for six years as a pupil of Thomas Anshutz.

In 1914, he moved to Hawaii where he was able to support himself working as a newspaper illustrator,"Pacific Commercial Advertiser". For the opening night exhibit of the 1917 opening night exhibition of the Hawaiian Society of Artists, he both exhited his etchings and did the promotional sketch for the newspaper.

In 1921 he left Hawaii to relocate in San Francisco, California, where he worked as a teacher at the California School of Fine Arts and the University of California, Berkeley.

Poole served as the president of the California Society of Etchers for three years and remained involved in the club. During the 1930s he did work for the Public Works Administration painting murals, including one he did for the Roosevelt Junior High School in San Francisco. Throughout his career he exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Art, (1935), and the Galerie Beaux Arts, San Francisco (1929).

He died in San Francisco, California in 1949.

Source:
Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"

Horatio Nelson Poole was born in Haddonfield, New Jersey in 1884. He and his family relocated to Pennsylvania when he was ten years old. Living in Philadelphia, Poole studied at the local School of Industrial Design where he learned etching. His first etching was made from a scrap piece of zinc and printed on a mangle used for printing blue prints at the factory where he worked, helping to support his family.

He studied for six years at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Art as a pupil of Thomas Anshutz. In 1914, he moved to Hawaii, where his brother lived, and he supported himself working as a newspaper cartoonist (1914-1917 for the "Honolulu Star Bulletin", and in 1917-18 for the Honolulu Advertiser). During this time, Poole worked on developing his skills as an etcher. He earned money designing bookplates for many famous collections of rare volumes. In this way, he met major collectors, such a C. Montague Cooke, who bought prints of all the etchings Poole made in the islands.

By 1918 Poole was one of the most prominent members of the Hawaiian Society of Artists. His fame reached beyond Hawaii and he was elected a member of the California Society of Etchers where he served as president for three years. In 1921, he left Hawaii to relocate to San Francisco, California where he joined the faculty of the California School of Fine Arts. He gave lectures on the art of etching, painted in his Montgomery Street studio, created murals, had one-man shows at the Galerie Beaux-Arts and continued to extend his influence on California art through his lectures at Berkeley and the California School of Fine Arts. Throughout his career, he exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Art, (1935) and the Galerie Beaux Arts, San Francisco (1929). He died in San Francisco in 1949.
--Bernard Nogues, July 2004

Born in Haddonfield, New Jersey on January 16, 1884, Poole moved with his family to Philadelphia at age ten where he learned his trade at night school at the School of Industrial Art. He also studied for six years with Thomas Anschutz at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

His first etching was made from a scrap piece of zinc and printed on a mangle used for printing blue prints at the factory where he worked, helping to support his family.

In 1914, he moved to Hawaii where he drew illustrations and cartoons for newspapers, made bookplates, and etched scenes which captured the essence of those tropical islands.

Seven years later he moved to San Francisco, where he lived until his death in 1949. Though he continued to focus primarily on etching, including serving as president of the California Society of Etchers for three years, he also became a respected painter, muralist, and illustrator.

While active as an artist, he also taught at the California School of Fine Arts and at UC Berkeley for many years.

Sources include: WWAA; Dawdy: Artists of the American West, vol. 1; Forbes: Encounters with Paradise; Hughes: Artists in California 1786-1940.

By Sarah Nelson

Horatio Nelson Poole, painter, muralist, printmaker, and teacher, was born on 16 January 1884 in Haddonfield, New Jersey. When Poole was ten years of age his family moved to Philadelphia where he studied at M Street High School, the School of Industrial Art, and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts where he was a student of Thomas Pollock Anshutz.

Poole moved to Hawaii in 1914 where he worked as a newspaper illustrator for the Pacific Commercial Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. He also earned money with bookplate commissions. He relocated to Northern California in 1921 settling in San Francisco where he was an art instructor at the California School of Fine Art between 1927 and 1942.

Poole also taught across the bay at the University of California Berkeley. He was a member of the California Society of Etchers and served as its president for three years, the San Francisco Art Association, the Chicago Society of Etchers, and the California Book Plate Society.

During the 1930s Poole was a member of the mural division of the WPA Public Works Administration and completed a twenty-foot mural for the Roosevelt Junior High School in San Francisco.

Poole's work is represented in the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Oakland Museum of California, the Portland Art Museum, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Horatio Nelson Poole died in San Francisco, California on 4 July 1949.