Gordon Onslow Ford: A Man on a Green Island

This substantial volume is the first major resource on the life and work of Gordon Onslow Ford (1912-2003), the British-born painter who was the youngest member of Andre Breton’s surrealist group in Paris, and who spent more than 50 years in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Marked by an initial interest in automatist techniques, Onslow Ford’s painting gradually developed through studies of Eastern philosophy, mysticism and ecology resulting in complex and varied works that incorporated cosmic charts and biomorphic abstraction.

In this superb publication, a series of thoroughly researched essays, previously unpublished archival material and over 200 color illustrations trace Onslow Ford’s time spent in Paris, stints in New York and Mexico, culminating in his move in 1947 to the Bay Area. Organized and published by the Lucid Art Foundation (cofounded by Onslow Ford in 1998), this is a long-overdue and impressively executed survey.