Michael Ford (28 July 1920 – 16 June 2005) was an English artist who worked in several media and whose paintings often have a somewhat naive quality coupled with elements of minute, detailed observation.

Biography

Early life

Ford was the son of a former Army major who was a farmer and the managing director of a seed merchant business at Overton near

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

. Ford was born deaf as a result of his mother contracting

rubella Rubella, also known as German measles or three-day measles, is an infection caused by the rubella virus. This disease is often mild, with half of people not realizing that they are infected. A rash may start around two weeks after exposure and ...

while pregnant. His mother ran a 'Home School' on the family farm which Ford attended, before studying art at

Goldsmiths' College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

between 1937 and 1940.

World War Two

In May 1940, Ford joined the

Local Defence Volunteers The Home Guard (initially Local Defence Volunteers or LDV) was an armed citizen militia supporting the British Army during the Second World War. Operational from 1940 to 1944, the Home Guard had 1.5 million local volunteers otherwise ineligible f ...

, which soon became the

Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting wi ...

and also worked three days per week as a coal miner whilst also doing farm work. He learnt to ride a motorbike and became a dispatch rider. Ford continued to paint and submitted a number of pictures to the

War Artists' Advisory Committee The War Artists Advisory Committee (WAAC), was a British government agency established within the Ministry of Information at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and headed by Sir Kenneth Clark. Its aim was to compile a comprehensive artist ...

, WAAC. The first to be accepted by WAAC was ''Home Guards Brewing Tea just before Dawn'' which Ford had first sketched in a shepherd's hut whilst waiting to go on Home Guard duty. A submission in May 1941 of a painting of a Land Girl was refused, but in July 1941 WAAC accepted ''War Weapons Week in a Country Town'' and included it in their ongoing

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

exhibition. A reproduction of the painting was included in

Eric Newton Eric Newton is an American journalist, Innovation Chief at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and a consultant for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, an organization created by one of ...

's 1945 book ''War Through Artists' Eyes''. Ford continued with his Home Guard duties and farm work and in February 1942 submitted another picture to WAAC. This oil painting, ''Italian Prisoners-of-war Working on the Land'', was purchased by WAAC for fifteen guineas and was one of the few depictions of prisoners of war at work acquired by WAAC. Ford also designed a poster featuring a Land Girl with the slogan "Are you working of shirking ? More women are needed".

Later life

After the war, Ford had a long career as an artist and illustrator. He worked in many different media, pastels, ink, charcoal, watercolours and oil paint. He had works exhibited at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

, with the

Royal Society of Portrait Painters The Royal Society of Portrait Painters is a charity based at Carlton House Terrace, SW1, London that promotes the practice and appreciation of portraiture. Its Annual Exhibition of portraiture is held at Mall Galleries, and it runs a commissio ...

, with the

New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) was founded in London in 1885 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. It continues to hold an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries in London, exhibiting works by both members and a ...

, the

Royal Society of British Artists The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy. History The RBA commenced with twenty-seven members, and took until 1876 to reach fif ...

and in the Paris Salon. Ford had a long-running contract with the magazine

Farmers Weekly ''Farmers Weekly'' is a magazine aimed at the British farming industry. It provides news; business features; a weekly digest of facts and figures about British, European and world agriculture; and livestock, arable and machinery sections with ...

to portray a featured farmer or landowner. Ford died at Winchester in 2005.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Michael 1920 births 2005 deaths 20th-century English male artists 20th-century English painters Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Artists from Hampshire British Home Guard soldiers British war artists Deaf artists English deaf people English male painters People from Overton, Hampshire World War II artists British artists with disabilities