Short Biography
Born in England in 1912, Gordon Onslow Ford is noted for having been the youngest member of the pre-World War II, Paris-based surrealist group and for his lifelong pursuit of an independent path of discovery through his art. The trajectory of this pursuit led him from England to Paris, to New York as a wartime émigré, and then to a remote Tarascan village in Mexico. After the war he traveled up the Pacific West coast to San Francisco, eventually coming to live on a hilltop in Inverness on the Point Reyes peninsula of California where he lived for fifty years until his death in 2003.
Island Time film
Island Time is a film made by Madeline Tourtelot in 1969 about Gordon Onslow Ford.
Video Interview
Gordon Onslow Ford video interview by Lyn Kienholz for Netropolitan Arts Conversations (2002).
Video Presentation
Fariba Bogzaran & Ramuntcho Matta in Conversation:
Celebrating Gordon Onslow Ford and Roberto Matta
presentation on November 12, 2025
In this video, Fariba Bogzaran and Ramuntcho Matta discuss their collaboration on the publication Endless Crossroads and the exhibition Gordon Onslow Ford & Roberto Matta: The inner dynamic, the sincere friendship held at Galerie Diane de Polignac, Paris, France, October 16- November 29, 2025. They shared their reflections and insights into the special connection between Gordon and Matta throughout their lives, and their vision of a new art movement that is timeless and relevant today.
Thumbnail image (left to right): Gordon Onslow Ford and Fariba Bogzaran (1992); Ramuntcho Matta and Roberto Matta (1993)