Point Reyes Light - November 20, 2003
Famed Inverness artist Gordon Onslow Ford dies
By Larken Bradley
Gordon Onslow Ford, an internationally acclaimed artist and the last surviving member of the Parisian Surrealist painters of the 1930s, died of a stroke Sunday, Nov. 9, at his Inverness compound where he had lived and painted for more than 45 years. He was 90.
In 1957, he and his wife, the poet Jacqueline Johnson, acquired land on Inverness Ridge. Over the years they donated more than 225 acres to the Nature Conservancy for its permanent preservation.
Inspiration from Inverness
A deeply spiritual man, Mr. Onslow Ford drew artistic inspiration from the natural landscape surrounding his home. "He was searching for his relationship to the Creator in very close connection with nature, the woods, trees [and] birds of Bishop Pine Preserve," noted his cousin, Franz-Josef von Braun.
A painter of metaphysical landscapes, his images incorporate lights, live-lines and multi-horizons.
Shrouded in a veil of mystery to many West Marin residents, "he enjoyed his privacy so he could be left in peace to paint, but he was constantly in dialogue with the art world, museum directors, curators, writers, students, his staff and associates," said Fariba Bogzaran, executive director of the Lucid Art Foundation, which Mr. Onslow Ford co-founded.
"He painted every morning and walked in the woods every afternoon," Bogzaran revealed.
Until shortly before his death, added Point Reyes Station artist Christine DeCamp, "he was painting every day."
Remembered for his humility, Mr. Onslow Ford, "wouldn’t want his own photo on his catalogue," said Daniel Deslauriers, who recorded a video biography of the artist.
"He was very English," observed DeCamp. "There was a real sweetness to that."
Mr. Onslow Ford was born in 1912 in Wendover, England, into a family of artists. His early works were painted at the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth. After serving as a naval officer he moved to Paris in 1937, where he studied and joined the Surrealists led by Andre Breton. He befriended other artists including Roberto Matta, with whom he maintained a lifelong friendship.
Led surrealist movement
In 1941 he moved to New York, rejoining the Surrealistic painters in exile there during World War II. He became spokesman for the Surrealistic Art Movement, conducting a series of lectures and exhibitions.
After marrying Ms. Johnson the two joined several painters in Erongaricuaro, Mexico, where they lived among the Tarascan Indians for six years.
The couple moved to San Francisco in 1947. The next year Mr. Onslow Ford opened a retrospective exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He and Greek painter Jean Varda bought the ferryboat Vallejo, which they converted to an art studio docked in Sausalito, creating a cultural center for the Bay Area’s artistic community.
In 1951 he organized the historic Dynaton exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and studied with Zen Buddhist scholar Alan Watts and Zen Master Hodo Tobase Roshi.
In a press release announcing his death, it reads, "Buddhist teachings of Void and Emptiness introduced Onslow Ford to the exploration of the depths of the mind and deeper layers of consciousness."
After moving to Inverness Ridge he developed an artistic philosophy he labeled, "line, circle, dot," which led to the publication of two books, Painting in the Instant, and Creation. In 1978 a major retrospective of his work was opened at the Oakland Museum.
In the late 1980s he began a collaboration with Fariba Bogzaran, an artist and lucid-dream researcher. Their alliance inspired two further publications, Ecomorphology, and Once Upon a Time. Along with friend Robert Antoine, in 1998 the trio co-founded the Lucid Art Foundation, "to support a direction in art that expresses the quest of the inner worlds," organization members note.
A group of the association's artists and administrators will continue his legacy at the Bishop Pine Preserve.
A gracious artist
In February of this year The Light met Mr. Onslow Ford at the opening reception of his exhibit, "Paintings from the Last Five Years," held at the Braunstein/Quay Gallery in San Francisco. Neatly dressed in a conservative suit, Mr. Onslow Ford graciously chatted with visitors as they viewed his large-scale kinetic paintings of images from the collective unconscious.
Public collections of his work can be seen at the Whitney Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Los Angeles County Museum.
A public art show opening of his work will be held at 5 p.m. Saturday, December 6, at the Weinstein Gallery, 383 Geary Street, San Francisco.
His wife, Jacqueline Johnson, predeceased him in 1976.
He is survived by his sister, Elisabeth Onslow Ford Rouslin; and a nephew, Maxwell Rouslin, both of Asheville, North Carolina.
A memorial service will be announced.