Charles Henri Ford around 1930. Photograph by Carl van Vechten. [Photo from the collection of P. and M. Jaworowicz. Heliogravure; 1935.]
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Charles Henri Ford
Charles Henri Ford
Charles Henri Ford was born on February 10, 1908, and passed away on September 27, 200. He was an American artist with many talents - a poet, novelist, filmmaker, photographer, and collage creator.
He gained recognition by publishing poetry, exhibiting his works in Europe and the USA, and editing the surrealist magazine "View" (1940–1947) in New York.
"View" gathered around itself a group of prominent surrealists from Europe, making New York an important center of surrealism.
Youth in the USA and move to Paris
Born in Brookhaven, Mississippi, Ford belonged to a wealthy Baptist family, although he attended Catholic schools. As a young man, he began publishing his poems, and in the 1930s, he became associated with Gertrude Stein's Paris salon, where he met many significant figures. Together with Parker Tyler, he wrote the experimental novel "The Young and Evil" (1933), which soon gained fame but also sparked controversy due to its portrayal of gender and sexual identities. The novel was rejected by several American and British publishers before Obelisk Press in Paris agreed to publish it (officials in Britain and the USA, however, prevented copies of the novel from being delivered to bookstores).
New York
Ford returned to New York in 1934, bringing with him Pavel Tchelitchew, his partner with whom he collaborated. At that time, his circle included Carl Van Vechten, Glenway Wescott, George Platt Lynes, Lincoln Kirstein, Orson Welles, George Balanchine, and E. E. Cummings. Visiting friends from abroad included Cecil Beaton, Leonor Fini, George Hoyningen-Huene, and Salvador Dalí.
The magazine View
In 1940, Ford and Tyler once again collaborated on View magazine, dedicated to the avant-garde and surrealist art. They leveraged the "full force of European surrealists nesting in New York during the war" to make New York the center of surrealism. The magazine was published quarterly, as far as finances allowed, until 1947.
It attracted contributions from artists such as Tchelitchew, Yves Tanguy, Max Ernst, André Masson, Pablo Picasso, Henry Miller, Paul Klee, Albert Camus, Lawrence Durrell, Georgia O'Keeffe, Man Ray, Jorge Luis Borges, Joan Miró, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Jean Genet, René Magritte, Jean Dubuffet, and Edouard Roditi. Its covers featured works by Ernst, Ray, Isamu Noguchi, Duchamp, O'Keeffe, Leger, Lama, and many other artists.
Andy Warhol and Nepal
In 1962, Ford returned to the United States and began collaborating with Pop artists and creators of underground films. He met Andy Warhol at a party at his sister's, and their relationship was described in the book "The Autobiography and Sex Life of Andy Warhol." In 1965, an exhibition of his works titled "Poem Posters," which Ford created using lithographic press in Athens, took place. By the end of the 1960s, he also started directing his own films, including "Poem Posters" (1967) and "Johnny Minotaur" (1971).
In the 1970s, he moved to Nepal, where he employed Indra Tamang as his assistant.
Dakota Building, New York.
[Public domain]
Death
In 1992, he edited an anthology of articles from View. In 2001, he published excerpts from his memoirs as "Water from a Bucket."
He spent his final years living in the famous Dakota building in Manhattan (where Yoko Ono still resides to this day).
The New York Times published an article dedicated to him after his death.
Ford's works
Ford's works
Nonfiction
Water from A Bucket: A Diary 1948-1957 (Turtle Point Press, 2001)
Fiction
The Young and Evil, with Parker Tyler (Paris: Obelisk Press, 1933)
Poetry
A Pamphlet of Sonnets (1936)
The Garden of Disorder (1938)
ABC's (1940)
The Overturned Lake (1941)
Poems for Painters (1945)
The Half-Thoughts, The Distances of Pain (1947)
Sleep in a Nest of Flames (1949)
Spare Parts (1966)
Silver Flower Coo (1968)
Flag of Ecstasy: Selected Poems (1972)
7 poems (1974)
Om Krishna I: Special Effects (1972)
Om Krishna II: from the Sickroom of the Walking Eagles (1981)
Om Krishna III (1982)
Emblems of Arachne (1986)
Out of the Labyrinth: Selected Poems (2001)
Editor
The Mirror of Baudelaire (New Directions, 1942)[e]
A Night with Jupiter and Other Fantastic Stories (New York: View Editions, Vanguard Press, 1945)[f]
View: Parade of the Avant-Garde, 1940–1947 (Thunder's Mouth Press, 1992; Basic Books, 1993)
More:
Ford, Charles Henri, ed. View: Parade of the Avant-Garde. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1991. [McCain Library MISS NX456 .V49 1991]
Tashjian, Dickran. A Boatload of Madmen: Surrealism and the American Avant-Garde 1920 -1950. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1995.
Charles Henri Ford, 94, Prolific Poet, Artist and Editor, New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/30/arts/charles-henri-ford-94-prolific-poet-artist-and-editor.html
Charles Henri Ford Author and Artist, Missisipi Encyclopedia, https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/charles-henri-ford/
Charles Henri Ford & Pavel Tchelitchew, https://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/2236914.html
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