{{Short description|Canadian artist (1859–1938)}} {{Infobox person | name = Harriet Mary Ford | image = Harriet Mary Ford 1878 school photo.png | caption = Harriet Mary Ford, 1878 | birth_date = 1859 | birth_place = Brockville, Canada West | death_date = {{death date|mf=yes|1938|10|31}} | death_place = Bovingdon Green, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England | occupation = Artist, Critic, Lecturer, Writer | known_for = Painter, Muralist, Jeweler }}
{{external media | width = 210px | float = right | headerimage= | video1 = Julia McArthur and Johanna Amos, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft51azdUkvw “An Enigmatic Likeness: A Posy for Harriet Ford (1859–1938)”], CWAHI Concordia University }}
'''Harriet Mary Ford''' or simply '''Harriet Ford''' (1859 – 31 October 1938) was a Canadian artist who worked as a painter, muralist and jeweller.<ref name="CAI">{{cite web|title=Harriet Mary FORD|url=https://cornwallartists.org/cornwall-artists/harriet-mary-ford|website=Cornwall Artists Index|access-date=10 March 2018}}</ref> She has been described as epitomizing "the Canadian New Woman".<ref name="Butlin"/> Ford was active as a critic, writer, and lecturer, and was known in academic circles as an authority on Renaissance art and artists.<ref name="Globe">{{Cite news|title=Three Art Lectures|date=March 18, 1895|work=The Globe}}</ref> Ford belonged to a number of societies and organizations and founded the Society of Mural Decorators in 1894.<ref name="Database"/><ref name="Geyer">{{cite web|last1=Geyer|first1=Andrea|title=Harriet Mary Ford (1859–1958)|url=http://www.andreageyer.info/revolttheysaid/f.html|website=Revolt, they said|access-date=10 March 2018}}</ref>
== Early life == Ford was born in Brockville, Canada West in 1859.<ref name="AGO"/> Her father was a barrister, David B. Ogden Ford.<ref name="Hamilton">{{cite book|title=Harriet Ford|last1=Watson|first1=Jennifer C.|date=2001|publisher=Art Gallery of Hamilton|location=Hamilton, Ontario|page=27|chapter=Harriet Ford: An Expatriate Rediscovered}}</ref> After being orphaned at the age of ten, Ford was educated at a private Anglican school for girls, the Bishop Strachan School, from 1870 to 1878.<ref name="BSS">{{cite book|title=The Bishop Strachan School Heritage - BSS 150|date=2017|publisher=BSS Museum & Archives|location=Toronto|pages=16–17|url=https://www.bss.on.ca/our-heritage/#bss-our-heritage/page/16-17}}</ref>
== Education and travels == Ford studied at the Central Ontario School of Art in Toronto, Ontario, Canada,<ref name="Galerie">{{cite web|title=Harriet Mary Ford|url=http://www.galerie-q.com/canadian-masters/harriet-mary-ford|website=Galerie Q|access-date=10 March 2018}}</ref> the St John's Wood Art School, and the Royal Academy in London, England. In France, she studied at the Académie Colarossi in Paris and with Luc-Olivier Merson and Joseph Blanc.<ref name="Galerie"/> Ford also completed a residence in Italy as part of her training, before focusing on her work as a muralist, painter and jewellery maker.
Ford spent much of her life traveling, visiting countries such as Italy, Spain and England, and living intermittently in Canada and England.<ref name="Database"/><ref name="Galerie"/> During her time spent in England, Ford shared a cottage with her fellow artists Edith Hayes<ref name="Watson">{{cite web|url=http://www.silversocietyofcanada.ca/sites/default/files/Watson2.pdf|title=Harriet Ford as Silversmith|last1=Watson|first1=Jennifer|website=Silver Society of Canada|access-date=10 March 2018}}</ref> and Sydney Strickland Tully in Newlyn and Bovingdon Green, Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire.<ref name="Butlin">{{cite book|last1=Butlin|first1=Susan|title=A New Matrix of the Arts: A History of the Professionalization of Canadian Women Artists, 1880-1914|date=2008|publisher=School of Canadian Studies, Carleton University|location=Ottawa, Ontario|url=https://curve.carleton.ca/system/files/etd/bb435290-1c08-4c4b-a490-a88e3e9c7c49/etd_pdf/4f7a95b37b904090415ba4a0d0f39dc3/butlin-anewmatrixoftheartsahistoryoftheprofessionalization.pdf|access-date=11 March 2018}}</ref> Although she frequented Newlyn and many other parts of England, Ford preferred passing her time in St. Ives.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Miss Harriet Ford|date=September 11, 1897|work=The Globe}}</ref> Ford began to express new ideas and attitudes towards art after her many travels throughout Europe, thus prompting critics to brand her as "dangerous."<ref>{{Cite news|title=Art and Artists|date=December 15, 1920|work=The Globe}}</ref>
Ford worked full-time as a writer, lecturer and artist. She was unmarried, professionally focused and financially independent, and has been described as epitomizing "the Canadian New Woman".<ref name="Butlin"/> Such a position had both benefits and drawbacks. After winning the 1896 poster competition for the Toronto Horse Show, Ford was attacked by an anonymous critic in ''Saturday Night'' magazine, who derided both the poster's design of a woman on a horse and the very idea of the "New Woman".<ref name="Butlin"/> With her international experience, Ford was a supporter of the idea that Canadian artists should be free to find inspiration wherever they wished.<ref name="Carlyle">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1t5Fm7IFMTYC&pg=PA303|title=The practice of her profession : Florence Carlyle, Canadian painter in the age of impressionism|last1=Butlin|first1=Susan|date=2009|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|isbn=0773535098|location=Kingston, Ontario|page=303|access-date=10 March 2018}}</ref> In J. Russell Harper's ''Painting in Canada: A History'', he said that Ford stated that she did not believe that the depiction of Canadian scenes was essential for participation in the Canadian school of art.<ref name=":0" />
== Career as an artist ==
=== Painter === Ford’s work is in such public collections as the National Gallery of Canada,<ref name="Ford">{{cite web|title=Harriet Ford|url=https://www.gallery.ca/collection/artist/harriet-ford|website=National Gallery of Canada|access-date=10 March 2018}}</ref> the Art Gallery of Ontario<ref name="AGO" /> and the Art Gallery of Hamilton.<ref name="Galerie" /><ref name="Database" /> In painting, Ford worked primarily in oil paint, watercolour, and pastel.<ref name="Database" /> She displayed her work at numerous locations including the Royal Canadian Academy and the Paris Salon.<ref name="Galerie" /> During the Royal Canadian Academy Exhibition of 1895, Ford displayed four of her own pieces, including ''Girl in White'', ''Annunciation'', a decorative oil panel and a self-portrait.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Oil Paintings|date=May 1, 1895|work=Globe (Toronto)}}</ref>
In 1896, Ford won a competition for the design of a horse show poster, beating out several notable Montreal artists.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Art Notes|date=March 21, 1896|work=Saturday Night (Toronto)}}</ref> The work, printed in red, yellow, blue, and black, was later shown in an art exhibition in Montreal, where it reportedly was criticized for its break from formalist traditions.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|title=Art Notes|date=March 28, 1896|work=Saturday Night (Toronto)}}</ref> However, many of these criticisms acknowledged how Ford intentionally disregarded these conventions about colour and perspective, and that it was not due to a lack of skill or formal training.<ref name=":1" /> The poster was also mailed out to members of the artistic community for their personal collections.<ref name=":1" />
While living abroad, Ford also made sketches of the various locations she saw on her travels. She sent these sketches back to Canada, and one was included in an issue of ''Canadian Magazine'' in 1896.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Canadian Magazine|date=June 5, 1896|work=Globe (Toronto)}}</ref>
=== Muralist === Ford's work in house decoration included furniture, screens, and murals, but few examples of this work remain. Ford was interested in murals as early as 1895, when she spoke about the subject during a lecture in Toronto.<ref name="Butlin" /> Ford was one of the few female Canadian artists at the time to receive commercial commissions to create murals.<ref name="Butlin" /> She was commissioned to create murals in the private homes of wealthy patrons such as Charles Porteous, James Mavor and in public institutions such as Saint John's Convalescent Hospital in Toronto, where she was commissioned to create her mural "Mother and Child."<ref name="Butlin" /> She was a member of the Canadian Mural Decorator's Society, and in 1898 collaborated on an unsuccessful project to decorate Toronto's Union Station with a mural of Canadian railway builders at work.<ref name="Butlin" />
=== Jeweller === Between 1908 and 1912, Ford began to work as a jewellery designer and metal smith.<ref name="Watson" /> Ford likely received instruction on jewellery making from the Arts and Crafts Movement during her time spent in England.<ref name="Watson" /> Ford began working with silver, but eventually progressed towards incorporating gold within her pieces.<ref name="Watson" /> Like many jewellery makers associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement, Ford integrated semi-precious stones, such as cabochons, turquoise, mother of pearl, baroque pearls, and river pearls.<ref name="Watson" /> Her work was featured in a 2001 exhibition at the Art Gallery of Hamilton.<ref name="Hamilton" /> Some of her jewellery was included in the exhibition ''Artists, Architects & Artisans: Canadian Art 1890-1918'' at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario in 2013.<ref name="Hallett">{{cite news|url=http://www.mutualart.com/ExternalArticle/Exhibit-Looks-at-Art--Architecture-in-Ca/0D734181620A12E1|title=Exhibit Looks at Art, Architecture in Canada from 1890-1918|last1=Hallett|first1=Susan|date=November 13, 2013|work=Epoch Times|access-date=10 March 2018}}</ref>
== Social and academic presence == In the late 1890s, Ford delivered several lectures based on her studies in Italy. These lectures were well-attended, necessitating on one occasion the relocation to a larger room in order to seat all those attending.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Art Notes|date=April 6, 1895|work=Saturday Night}}</ref> Ford’s lectures were based on her studies of early Renaissance art and artists, a subject on which she was considered an authority.<ref name="Globe" /> Ford delivered her first lecture on Giotto and his followers to the Ontario Society of Artists on March 19, 1895.<ref name="Globe" /> During this lecture, Ford was described as a "competent lecturer" who engaged the audience with interesting discussions.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Art Notes|date=March 23, 1895|work=Saturday Night}}</ref> Ford referred to other academics in her lectures, including art historian John Ruskin, but also discussed her own research.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Venetian Painters|date=April 3, 1895|work=The Globe}}</ref>
Ford also is quoted above the state of Canadian art in publications, such as J. Russell Harper's ''Painting in Canada: A History''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Painting in Canada: A History|last=Harper|first=J. Russell|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=1966|location=Toronto}}</ref> In this publication, Ford is said to have stated that she did not believe the depiction of Canadian scenes was essential for the creation of or participation in the Canadian school of art.<ref name=":0" />
Together with George Agnew Reid and Carl Ahrens, Ford founded ''Tarot'' magazine in 1896 and acted as an editor for this magazine dedicated to the Arts and Crafts Movement.<ref name="Galerie" />
== Affiliations == Ford belonged to many societies and academies, including the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts of which she was an Associate (1895-1899),<ref>{{cite book |last1=McMann |first1=Evelyn |title=Royal Canadian Academy of Arts |date=1981 |publisher=University of Toronto Press|location=Toronto|url= http://library.gallery.ca/search~S1?/aMcMann/amcmann/1%2C2%2C11%2CB/frameset&FF=amcmann+evelyn+de+r+evelyn+de+rostaing+1913+1999&8%2C%2C10|access-date=2022-10-11}}</ref> the Palette Club, the Ontario Society of Artists, the Women’s International Art Club<ref name="Galerie"/> and was a founder of the Society of Mural Decorators in 1894.<ref name="Galerie" />
== Death and legacy == Ford died in Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England on October 10, 1938.<ref name="CAI" /><ref name="AGO">{{cite web|title=Harriet Mary Ford|url=http://52.60.132.43:8080/emuseum/people/5832/harriet-mary-ford;jsessionid=A75895B9A2CC7EAF9999FAEE97332ABF|website=AGO Art Gallery of Ontario|access-date=10 March 2018}}</ref><ref name="Database">{{cite web|title=FORD, Harriet Mary|url=https://cwahi.concordia.ca/sources/artists/displayArtist.php?ID_artist=19|website=Artist Database|publisher=Canadian Women Artists History Initiative|access-date=10 March 2018}}</ref> Many of her works are in the National Gallery of Canada, The Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Art Gallery of Hamilton.
== Works == <gallery> File:Boy Lying in Grass, by Harriet Mary Ford (1859- 31 October, 1938), 1890.jpg|Harriet Mary Ford, Boy Lying in Grass (1890) File:Harriet Ford, Piazzetta (1913). jpg.jpg|Harriet Mary Ford, Piazzetta (1913) File:Harriet Mary Ford, Gondolas (1913).jpg|Harriet Mary Ford, Gondolas (1913) File:Harriet Mary Ford, The Market Square, Segovia, No. 1 (1913).jpg|Harriet Mary Ford, Market Square, Segovia No.1 (1913) File:Harriet Ford, The Market Square, Segovia, No.2 (1913).jpg|Harriet Mary Ford, Market Square, Segovia, No.2 (1913) File:Versailles 1912.jpg|Harriet Mary Ford. Versailles (1912) File:Fountain of the Three Lions, Assisi (Italy) painted 1909.jpg|Harriet Mary Ford. Fountain of the Three Lions, Assisi (Italy)(1909) </gallery>
==References== <references />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Harriet Mary}} Category:1859 births Category:1938 deaths Category:20th-century Canadian women artists Category:Académie Colarossi alumni Category:Alumni of St John's Wood Art School Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy Schools Category:Artists from Ontario Category:Canadian jewellers Category:OCAD University alumni Category:Women jewellers Category:Canadian women painters Category:Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Category:Canadian women muralists Category:Bishop Strachan School alumni