As fellow author Nina Wilcox Putnam described her, "Mrs. Ford collected celebrities as some people collect postage stamps." She was hostess of a twice weekly salon at her New York town house that included notables such as Kahlil Gibran, Ezra Pound, Isadora Duncan, Bertrand Russell, Charlie Chaplin, William Butler Yeats, and Anna May Wong.
"Mrs. Ford had a great interest in the Pre-Raphaelite painters and later artists such as JW Waterhouse and Arthur Hacker, both of whom she knew personally. She went to Germany to meet the German painter Franz von Stuck and to get photographic reproductions of his work. She created her own wallpaper for her upstairs study by arranging on the walls as a mosaic over two hundred photographic reproductions of pictures by these artists." (Source: The Yale University Library Gazette, 1926, via JW Waterhouse)
The Fords married on May 29, 1883 and subsequently bore three children: Ellsworth, born in 1885, Julia Lauren, born in 1890, and Hobart born, in 1894.
Because Lauren's mother wanted her to become an artist and had very definite ideas about education, she was taught to draw when she was only 18 months old. "You have to do things for children when they are very young," she said. At the age of 9, Lauren was sent to Brittany to study painting with her uncle and namesake, Lawrence Shaw, a portrait painter. His instruction, France's medieval art, and the beauty of the liturgy and Gregorian chants of the monks of Solesmes nourished her creative and spiritual growth. She subsequently went on to study at Academie Colarossi in Paris, where she was introduced to the European academic tradition. Later she studied with Frank V. Dumond and George Bridgman at Art Students League in New York. The revival of ecclesiastical art had the greatest influence in her work. Major figures in the movement included her friends Marie Fauconnier, Frances Delehanty, and Justine Ward.
After World War II, she was instrumental in the founding of the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, CT (there's a lovely photographic study of the Abbey here). The story of her role in the founding of the Abbey was the basis for the 1949 film starring Loretta Young, "Come to the Stable," and is also discussed in the book, Mother Benedict by Antoinette Bosco. In 1973, Lauren passed away at the age of 82, leaving her estate to the Abbey.
- The Little Book About God (1934)
- Claude: A Tale of an-Idyllic Childhood by Genevieve Fauconnier, Translated and Illustrated by Lauren Ford (1937)
- The Agless Story: With Its Antiphons (1939; beautifully written about here, illustrations shown here)
- Our Lady's Book (1961)
- Lauren Ford's Christmas Book (1963)
- Imagina by Julia Ellsworth Ford, Illustrated by Arthur Rackham and Lauren Ford (1914)
- Memoirs of a Donkey by Madame de Segur (1924)
- Bells of Heaven, The Story of Joan of Arc by Christopher Bick (1949)
- Treasure on the Hill by Marie Lyons Killilea (1960)
La Grippe (Home Fires)
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On my post with her paintings - the last 5 are illustrations from Our Lady's Book.
I was pretty appalled, as I started researching her, that her work hasn't been kept in print and isn't better known. I just don't understand how that can happen & wish that someone would republish her.
Kris K in Pennsylvania - I don't have blogger sign-on and hope this message will be accepted.
Here is the painting:
http://figureworks.com/20thcentury/mangravite.html
I was pleased to see that you are a Catholic homeschooler as am I. You must be familiar with De Paola's work; it is pure treasure. I highly recommend his collection of Christmas memories written for all ages, the title of which I mentioned above. I am so grateful to be introduced to Lauren Ford. I hope to find out more about her life. Merry Christmas!
Lisa in Maine
Hobart