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HENRY CHAPMAN FORD Biography

Henry Chapman Ford was born in Livonia, NY August 6, 1828. He received his arts education in Paris and Florence from 1857-1860. Ford served in the Civil War and provided sketches for the illustrated press, but only served a year due to physical disabilities. He moved to Chicago and became the city's first professional landscape painter and also founded and served on the Academy of Design for several years. Due to his ailing health, he eventually moved and settled to Santa Barbara, CA in 1875. He traveled and depicted the 21 mission sites in California and helped to revive the public's interest in Spanish heritage and restoration of the missions. In 1883, he published Etchings of the Franciscan Missions of California and exhibited them in the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Ford painted and taught in Santa Barbara until his death in February 27, 1894.

Exhibited: California State Fair, 1887, 1892; Mechanics Institute, San Francisco, 1893.

Works Held: Southwest Museum, Los Angeles; Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley; Oakland Museum; Riverside Inn; Stanford University.