Gordon Onslow Ford

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Gordon Onslow Ford (December 26, 1912 – November 9, 2003) was the last surviving member of the 1930s Paris surrealist group surrounding André Breton. He was born in Wendover, England, on December 26, 1912. He served in the British Navy until 1937 after which he focused on his art career.

In 1938 he became an official member of the surrealist group in Paris. At the onset of World War II, he returned to Britain. In 1941 he was asked to present a series of lectures in New York.

While in New York, he met and married writer Jacqueline Johnson. They lived in Erongaricuaro, a small village in central Mexico, for six years before moving to San Francisco in 1947. Together with his friend Wolfgang Paalen whom he knew from Paris and Mexico, he exhibited in the San Francisco Museum of Art in the group show Dynaton, which was also the name of the small group of artists, Paalen had founded in 1949. During the 50's, Ford and artist Jean Varda co-owned the SS Vallejo which served as their studio, and was docked at the waterfront in Sausalito.

In 1958, Ford turned over his half of the Vallejo to Alan Watts, and Ford and Johnson moved to Inverness, California, where they had previously purchased 300 acres (1.2 km²) of forest.

His wife died in 1978.

[edit] External links

• Copy of NY Times Obituary
• His artwork