Edward Onslow Ford (27 July 1852 – 23 December 1901) was an English sculptor. Much of Ford's early success came with portrait heads or busts. These were considered extremely refined, showing his subjects at their best and led to him receiving a number of commissions for public monuments and statues, both in Britain and overseas. Ford also produced a number of bronze statuettes of free-standing figures loosely drawn from mythology or of allegorical subjects. These 'ideal' figures became characteristic of the New Sculpture movement that developed in Britain from about 1880 and of which Ford was a leading exponent.

Biography

Early life

Ford was born at

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

in north London, the son of businessman Edward Ford and Martha Lydia Gardner. His family moved to Blackheath while he was still a child. After he had spent some time at

Blackheath Proprietary School The Blackheath Proprietary School was an educational establishment founded in 1830. In the 19th century, it had a profound influence on the game of football, in both Association and Rugby codes. In 1863, the school became one of the founders of T ...

, he went to Antwerp to study painting at Royal Academy of Fine Arts there during 1870 and 1871. Ford then studied under Michael Wagmüller in Munich until 1874, during which time he shared a studio with the sculptor Edwin Roscoe Mullins. Before leaving Munich, Ford married a fellow student Anne Gwendoline, the third daughter of Baron Frans von Kreusser, in 1873.

Portrait work

On returning to England around 1874, Ford settled at Blackheath and established a studio concentrating on portrait sculptures. In 1875, he submitted a portrait bust he had sculpted of his wife to the

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition The Summer Exhibition is an open art exhibition held annually by the Royal Academy in Burlington House, Piccadilly in central London, England, during the months of June, July, and August. The exhibition includes paintings, prints, drawings, sc ...

in London. From 1875 to 1884 Ford exhibited portrait sculptures each year at the Academy. Much of Ford's early success came in portraiture. His portrait busts are extremely refined and show his subjects at their best. He sculpted many portrait busts which are noted for their tasteful conception, delicate modelling, and verisimilitude. The best, perhaps, are the heads of

John Everett Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest s ...

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Herbert Spencer Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English polymath active as a philosopher, psychologist, biologist, sociologist, and anthropologist. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest", which he coined in '' ...

, Sir WQ Orchardson, Matthew Ridley Corbet, the duke of Norfolk,

Briton Rivière Briton Rivière (14 August 1840 – 20 April 1920) was a British artist of Huguenot descent. He exhibited a variety of paintings at the Royal Academy, but devoted much of his life to animal paintings. Biography Briton's father, William Rivi� ...

, Sir

Lawrence Alma-Tadema Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema ( ; born Lourens Alma Tadema, ; 8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912) was a Dutch people, Dutch painter who later settled in the United Kingdom, becoming the last officially recognised Denization, denizen in 1873. Born in ...

, Sir

Walter Armstrong Walter Armstrong may refer to: * Sir Walter Armstrong (art historian) (1850–1918), British art historian and writer * Wally Armstrong (born 1945) American professional golfer * Walter Sinnott-Armstrong (born 1955), American philosopher {{hndis, ...

, Sir

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Arthur Hacker Arthur Hacker (St Pancras, London, St Pancras, Middlesex, 25 September 1858 – 12 November 1919 Kensington, London) was an England, English classicist painter. Biography Hacker was the son of Edward Hacker (1812–1905), a line eng ...

(1894), and M.

Dagnan-Bouveret Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret (7 January 1852 – 3 July 1929) was a French painter, one of the leading members of the naturalist school. Biography He was born in Paris, the son of a tailor, and was raised by his grandfather after hi ...

. Those in bronze of his fellow-artist Arthur Hacker (1894) and of the politician

Arthur Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour (; 25 July 184819 March 1930) was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As Foreign Secretary ...

are striking likenesses, as is the marble statue of Sir

Frederick Bramwell Sir Frederick Joseph Bramwell, 1st Baronet FRS FRSA (17 March 1818 – 30 November 1903) was a British civil and mechanical engineer. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1873 and served as president of the Institution of Civil Engineers ...

for the

Royal Institution The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...

. In 1881 Ford moved his studio operation to Sydney Mews, among a block of studios off the Fulham Road.

Alfred Gilbert Sir Alfred Gilbert (12 August 18544 November 1934) was an English sculpture, sculptor. He was born in London and studied sculpture under Joseph Boehm, Matthew Noble, Édouard Lantéri and Pierre-Jules Cavelier. His first work of importance wa ...

had a neighbouring studio and together they worked on a number of experimental techniques, notably in

lost wax casting Lost-wax castingalso called investment casting, precision casting, or ''cire perdue'' (; loanword, borrowed from French language, French)is the process by which a duplicate sculpture (often a metal, such as silver, gold, brass, or bronze) is cas ...

which Ford would use throughout his career.

Exhibition pieces

In 1885 Ford exhibited a full-size bronze male nude, ''Linus'' at the Royal Academy and the following year exhibited ''Folly'' there, the first in an extended series of bronze statuettes of adolescent girls in poses loosely derived from mythology or allegorical themes. ''Folly'' was acquired by the Trusties of the

Chantrey Fund Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (7 April 1781 – 25 November 1841) was an English sculptor. He became the leading portrait sculptor in Regency era Britain, producing busts and statues of many notable figures of the time. Chantrey's most notable w ...

for the

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

in 1886 and Ford's subsequent variations on the subject, including ''Peace'' (1887), ''The Singer'' (1889), ''Applause'' (1893) and ''Echo'' (1895) were also widely praised. These works, termed 'ideal figures', came to be regarded by art critics as among the defining works of the New Sculpture movement that had developed in Britain from about 1880 onwards as a reaction to the blandness of much other Victorian sculpture. File:Edward Onslow Ford - Folly, 1886, front - on temporary display at Tate Britain, August 2010.png, ''Folly'', 1886 File:Edward Onslow Ford (1852-1901) - Peace (1887) front left 2 - Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, May 2012 (7224823738).png, ''Peace'', 1887 File:Edward Onslow Ford (1852-1901) - The Singer (1889) front right 2, once again on display at Tate Britain, Feb 2015 (16490688960).png, ''The Singer'', or ''The Egyptian Singer'', 1889 File:Edward Onslow Ford - Applause, 1893, front - on temporary display at Tate Britain, September 2010.png, ''Applause'', 1893 File:Edward Onslow Ford (1852-1901) - Echo (1895) front, Lady Lever Art Gallery, June 2013 (9095271627).png, ''Echo'', 1895 The modest scale of these works by Ford indicate they were not intended for grand country houses but rather for smaller domestic settings and, like other New Sculpture artists, Ford supported the commercial production of bronze statuettes and smaller copies of his work for the home market with ''Peace'' and other works by him becoming popular reproductions. Another characteristic of New Sculpture which Ford embraced was the use of polychromatic materials. For example, ''Applause'' has coloured resins with semi-precious stones and elements in silver, while ''The Singer'' uses copper and brass strips. ''The Singer'' and Applause'' were both originally on lotus-shaped pedestals, share the use of Egyptian motifs and iconography and are related by subject matter. Although created four years apart, Ford clearly considered the two works a pair and they each appear in several portraits of him, indicating both their significance to him personally and their place as his most widely exhibited works. The two were only exhibited together once, at the Paris International Exhibition of 1900, during Ford's lifetime but since 2008 both have been in the

collection in London.

Public monuments

Alongside his portrait work, Ford received his first public commission in 1881 for the statue of

Rowland Hill Sir Rowland Hill, KCB, FRS (3 December 1795 – 27 August 1879) was an English teacher, inventor and social reformer. He campaigned for a comprehensive reform of the postal system, based on the concept of Uniform Penny Post and his solu ...

now at King Edward Street in London. Other notable commissions included ''Irving as Hamlet'' (1883) depicting

Henry Irving Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), christened John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility ( ...

, found in the

Guildhall Art Gallery The Guildhall Art Gallery houses the art collection of the City of London, England. The museum is located in the Moorgate area of the City of London. It is a stone building in a semi-Gothic style intended to be sympathetic to the historic Guil ...

and the

Shelley Memorial The Shelley Memorial is a memorial to the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) at University College, Oxford, England, the college that he briefly attended and from which he was expelled for writing the 1811 pamphlet " The Necessity o ...

in University College, Oxford (1892). The standing statue of

William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...

, 1894, for the City Liberal Club, London, is regarded as one of Ford's best portrait works. A number of Ford's monumental commissions celebrate the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

, either by promoting imperial values or as memorials to military figures. A memorial statue by Ford from 1890, depicting General Gordon on a camel, stands at

Brompton Barracks The Royal School of Military Engineering (RSME) Group provides a wide range of training for the British Army and Defence. This includes; Combat Engineers, Carpenters, Chartered Engineers, Musicians, Band Masters, Sniffer Dogs, Veterinary Techni ...

, Chatham, the home of the

Royal School of Military Engineering The Royal School of Military Engineering (RSME) Group provides a wide range of training for the British Army and Defence. This includes; Combat Engineers, Carpenters, Chartered Engineers, Musicians, Band Masters, Sniffer Dogs, Veterinary Techni ...

. A second cast of the statue was installed in Khartoum from 1904 until 1958 when, shortly after Sudan achieved its independence, the statue was removed and relocated to

Gordon's School Gordon's School is a secondary school with academy status in West End near Woking, Surrey, England. It was founded as the Gordon Boys' Home in 1885. It is now one of the 36 state boarding schools in England. It converted to an academy on 1 J ...

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

in Surrey during 1959. Ford oversaw the production of small copies in bronze of the complete Gordon figure and of the camel alone for the domestic retail market. The full-size statue was exhibited in the Egyptian Hall of

The Crystal Palace The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibitors from around ...

in south London for a time and a statuette of the camel was shown at the

Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive range of me ...

in 1889. Ford's 1895 equestrian statue of the army officer Lord Strathnairn, originally erected at Knightsbridge, was cast in gun-metal presented by the Indian government. He created a silver equestrian statuette, commissioned by the family, of Frederick Roberts, who was killed in action at the

Battle of Colenso The Second Battle of Colenso, also known as the Battle of Colenso, was the third and final battle fought during the Black Week of the Second Boer War. It was fought between British and Boer forces from the independent South African Republic a ...

in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

. Ford received several commissions for monuments in India. These included the 1898 statue of the Maharaja of Mysore,

Chamarajendra Wadiyar X Chamarajendra Wadiyar X (22 February 1863 – 28 December 1894) was the twenty-third Maharaja of Mysore between 1868 and 1894. Adoption and accession Chamarajendra Wadiyar X was born in the old palace in Mysore on 22 February 1863, as the thir ...

in full state regalia, installed in the

Lal Bagh Lalbagh Botanical Garden or simply Lalbagh (), is a botanical garden in Bengaluru, India, with an over 200-year history. First planned and laid out during the dalavayi, dalavaiship of King Hyder Ali, the garden was later managed under numerous ...

botanical garden in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

, the 1899 seated statue of Maharaja Lakshmeshwar Singh Bahadur of

Darbhanga Darbhanga is the fifth largest city and municipal corporation in the state of Bihar in India, and is considered an important city in North Bihar. It serves as the headquarters of the Darbhanga district and the Darbhanga division. Darbhanga ...

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

and two full-size statues representing ''Dance'' and ''Music'' which were commissioned by the Maharajah of Durbhanga, Lachmeswar Singh Bahadur. Completed sometime during 1890, Ford's memorial to

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame durin ...

was commissioned by Lady Shelley, the widow of the poets' son,

Sir Percy Shelley, 3rd Baronet Sir Percy Florence Shelley, 3rd Baronet (12 November 1819 – 5 December 1889), was the son of the English writer and poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and his second wife, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, novelist and author of ''Frankenstein''. He was the ...

, for the Protestant Cemetery in Rome but was deemed too large for the intended location and eventually installed at

University College, Oxford University College, formally The Master and Fellows of the College of the Great Hall of the University commonly called University College in the University of Oxford and colloquially referred to as "Univ", is a Colleges of the University of Oxf ...

. With the intended cemetery location in mind, Ford designed the monument with a tall and elaborate base in bronze and coloured marble featuring a mourning figure and winged lions supporting a marble figure of the drowned Shelley. The work was shown at the Royal Academy in 1891, to considerable praise, before being installed at Oxford. For Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897, Ford was commissioned to create a monumental statue of the Queen for Manchester. The work was not completed until after her death and received poor reviews when exhibited, indoors, at the Royal Academy in May 1901 but was greatly praised when unveiled in a more appropriate external setting in Manchester later the same year. Victoria sat for Ford a number of times for the Manchester monument. At her request, those studies became the basis of several portrait busts of the queen by Ford, in both marble and bronze, which she used as gifts. Ford delivered the last of these early in January 1901, weeks before she died. He subsequently produced a number of small-scale copies, in bronze, of the work which is considered a sensitive and sympathetic study of the elderly Victoria and the last sculptured likeness of her for which she sat. Ford was a founding member of the

Art Workers Guild The Art Workers' Guild is an organisation established in 1884 by a group of British painters, sculptors, architects, and designers associated with the ideas of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. The guild promoted the 'unity of al ...

in 1884 and became president of the Guild in 1885. He was elected an Associate Member of the Royal Academy in 1888 and became a full Academician in 1895.

Death and legacy

Around 1900, following an extended period of over-work and stress from financial worries, Ford developed heart disease but continued working at pace and died suddenly at his home in

St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden and the City of Westminster, London, England, about 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Historically the northern part of the Civil Parish#An ...

on 23 December 1901. Ford's obituary in ''

The Sketch ''The Sketch'' was a British illustrated weekly journal. It ran for 2,989 issues between 1 February 1893 and 17 June 1959. It was published by the Illustrated London News, Illustrated London News Company and was primarily a society magazine wit ...

'', dated 1 January 1902, states that he died of pneumonia exacerbated by a weak heart. However the suddenness of his death, and his debt issues, led to some speculation about suicide. He was survived by his mother, his wife, four sons, and a daughter. Two of his sons had worked with Ford in his studio and they completed some of his unfinished works, most notably the marble sculpture, ''Snowdrift''. His salt cellar, in silver, ivory, marble and

lapis lazuli Lapis lazuli (; ), or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color. Originating from the Persian word for the gem, ''lāžward'', lapis lazuli is ...

, of ''St George and the Dragon'' was completed by

John Seymour Lucas John Seymour Lucas (21 December 1849 – 8 May 1923) was a Victorian English historical and portrait painter, as well as an accomplished theatrical costume designer. He was born into an artistic London family (he was the nephew of the painter ...

. A monument was erected to Ford's memory which was designed by the architect J W Simpson and sculpted by Ford's former studio assistant Andrea Carlo Lucchesi in St John's Wood, near his home. The monument comprises a stone pillar with a bronze seated figure in mourning at the front, based on Ford's statue ''The Muse of Poetry'', and a wreathed bust of Ford at rear. The

Henry Moore Foundation The Henry Moore Foundation is a registered charity in England, established for education and promotion of the fine arts — in particular, to advance understanding of the works of Henry Moore, and to promote the public appreciation of sculpt ...

in Leeds holds an archive of Ford's papers and correspondence. The

Fine Art Society The Fine Art Society is a gallery based in both London and in Edinburgh's New Town (originally Bourne Fine Art, established 1978). The New Bond Street, London gallery closed its doors in August 2018 after being occupied by The Fine Art Society ...

held a memorial exhibition for Ford in 1905, from which the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

in London purchased a, unfinished, bronze titled ''Fate''. Several other national collections in Britain hold examples of Ford's work, notably the

, the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

in London, the

Lady Lever Art Gallery The Lady Lever Art Gallery is a museum founded and built by the industrialist and philanthropist William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme and opened in 1922. The Lady Lever Art Gallery is set in the garden village of Port Sunlight, on the Wirra ...

on Merseyside and the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History The Walker Art Gallery's collection dates from 1819 ...

in Liverpool.

Selected public works

Other works

A Bacchante - Edwin Onslow Ford - ABDAG004752

* Processional cross for Saint Matthew's Church, Sheffield * ''The Resurrection of Christ'', c. 1889–1893, Saint Albans Cathedral * Monument to

Benjamin Jowett Benjamin Jowett (, modern variant ; 15 April 1817 – 1 October 1893) was an English writer and classical scholar. Additionally, he was an administrative reformer in the University of Oxford, theologian, Anglican cleric, and translator of Plato ...

, 1897,

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

* Marble pulpit with bronze panels, c. 1888,

St Mary-le-More, Wallingford St Mary-le-More is a Church of England parish church in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England. The church is situated in the centre of The Marketplace, just behind the Town Hall. History St Mary le More existed by 1077, when the advowson belonged to ...

* Statue on pedestal of

, the

Maharaja of Mysore The maharaja of Mysore was the king and principal ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore and briefly of Mysore State in the Indian Dominion roughly between the mid- to late-1300s and 1950. The maharaja's consort was called the maharani of Mysore. In ...

, 1898,

, Bangalore * Bronze statue on pedestal of

James Davidson Gordon Sir James Davidson Gordon (1835–1889) was a British civil servant and administrator who served as the Chief Commissioner to Mysore and Coorg from 1878 to 1881 and as the Chief Commissioner of Coorg up to 1883. He is credited with having int ...

, c. 1884, Gordon Park,

Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

* ''A Bacchante'' bronze on a black stone base,1899, in Aberdeen Archives Art Gallery and Museum collection

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Edward Onslow 1852 births 1901 deaths 19th-century English sculptors 19th-century English male artists Artists from the London Borough of Islington Artists from the Royal Borough of Greenwich English male sculptors Masters of the Art Worker's Guild People educated at Blackheath Proprietary School People from Blackheath, London People from Islington (district) Royal Academicians Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp) alumni Sculptors from London