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oil paint canvas
Currently on view at Mint Museum--UPTOWN
Gift of Max Onslow Ford Rouslin and Marilyn M. Covington-Rouslin
The Love Knot is an important canvas by the British-American Surrealist Gordon Onslow Ford, who was a key figure in the second generation of Surrealist artists that emerged around the time of World War II. During the war, Onslow Ford moved from Paris to New York, where he delivered an important series of lectures that introduced Surrealism to a new generation of American artists. He soon left for Mexico, where The Love Knot was painted. He stayed there through the mid-1940s before spending the last five decades of his career in California, where he developed a uniquely personal approach to abstraction which he pursued until his death in 2003. The earthy palette, angular forms, and emphasis on pattern found in The Love Knot reflect the impact of the artist's experiences in Mexico. He gave it to his sister, Elisabeth, in 194 7 as a wedding present. Elisabeth had met her future husband, an anthropologist from Columbia University, while visiting her brother in Mexico. The title suggests the notion of marriage as a tie that binds, and the swirling lines and patterns suggest the impending union of the two abstracted figures on the left hand side and lower right corner of the composition. The Love Knot remained in the artist's family until it was donated to the museum in 2012.
Accession Number: 2012.104
Measurements:
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