Henry Varnum Poor, Resident Artist Lecture 1954

In this early lecture at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Henry Varnum Poor talks about the loss of tradition in art, which he relates to the proliferation of reproductions of artwork from many times and cultures. He contrasts this with true artistic traditions in which the artist lived in the same culture as, and was familiar with, through direct association, the work of his predecessors and contemporaries in that tradition, be it Native American pottery, Impressionism, or classical painting. He illustrates this talk with slides of paintings by a number of artists.