Hortense Crompton Mattice Gordon

Waddington's Auction House Biography and Notes

?Upon a visit to Michigan while in her teens, Hortense Gordon discovered artist William Morris, a designer well-represented in the American galleries who had lead the Arts and Crafts movement in Britain decades earlier. Returning to Canada, Gordon's interest in the crafts grew exponentially and she began working in her own studio with a kiln, teaching classes on china painting and pottery making. Relocating back to Hamilton in 1918 for a higher paying teaching position, Gordon created a ceramics course at the Hamilton Technical and Art School. As Iris Nowell points out, Gordon believed in making art that could be enjoyed by all: “She tried to uphold William Morris's commitment to bringing the highest standard of beauty into daily life...” It was her interest in function and art that lead to “Design for Wallpaper”, a product of her two passions, painting and craftwork. The work was most likely done before the 1940s when Gordon's interest in Abstract Expressionism had gained momentum and she began to study under Hans Hofmann at his school in Provincetown, Massachusetts. After Gordon's death in 1963, Hans Hofmann stated: “Hortense Gordon was indeed an extraordinary person; always directed toward the future and progress in life and art, and determined to do her very best in her work...and the results and consequences have been remarkable and beautiful.”