Harriet Mary Ford

Harriet Mary Ford or simply Harriet Ford (1859-31 October 1938) was a Canadian artist who worked as a painter, muralist and jeweller. She has been described as epitomizing "the Canadian New Woman". Ford was active as a critic, writer, and lecturer, and was known in academic circles as an authority on Renaissance art and artists. Ford belonged to a number of societies and organizations and founded the Society of Mural Decorators in 1894. Early life Ford was born in Brockville, Canada West in 1859. Her father was a barrister, David B. Ogden Ford. 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. Education and travels Ford studied at the Central Ontario School of Art in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 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. 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. During her time spent in England, Ford shared a cottage with her fellow artists Edith Hayes and Sydney Strickland Tully in Newlyn and Bovingdon Green, Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire. Although she frequented Newlyn and many other parts of England, Ford preferred passing her time in St. Ives. Ford began to express new ideas and attitudes towards art after her many travels throughout Europe, thus prompting critics to brand her as "dangerous."