In memory of Colin Ford (1934-2025)
We were very sad to hear of the death of Colin Ford CBE HonFRPS last Sunday 22 December, aged 91.
Colin’s professional life was, in large part, dedicated to photography, championing the medium’s status as an art form equal in significance to other forms of visual culture and worthy of rigorous study and public appreciation. In his curatorial positions and as Director of national institutions, he was considered a great innovator and was a pivotal figure in shifting the status of photography to the central position it now occupies in British cultural life.
Ford’s curatorial career started in the mid 1960s, as Deputy Curator of the National Film Archive at the BFI. Whilst in that role, a conversation with Sir Roy Strong, then Director of the National Portrait Gallery (NPG), led to a later invitation to interview for the position of the Gallery’s first photography curator. Colin later recalled “When I got the post, I became the first curator of photography in any British national museum or gallery. Before my arrival, there was only one photograph in the entire permanent collection”.
Colin was hugely knowledgeable about the history of photography and was an internationally recognised expert on Hungarian photographers and the work of Julia Margaret Cameron in particular. He was active over many decades in preserving important works for the nation. Alongside other vocal opponents, he had the foresight and passion to successfully argue against the Royal Academy’s proposed sale at auction of three volumes of calotypes by the Victorian photographers David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson in 1972. The auction was cancelled, and the works were subsequently secured for the NPG by an anonymous donor. In 1975, he preserved invaluable work by Julia Margaret Cameron, recalling “when one of her albums was put up for sale, I had it banned from export and led the first public campaign to buy historic photographs for the nation (both firsts).” He later served as a government advisor on the export (or prevention thereof) of historic photography.
In 1983, he became the founding Director of the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford (NMPFT, now the National Science and Media Museum). He oversaw the acquisition of important collections, presented exhibitions of historical significance and advanced the position that photography, film and television warranted serious academic and public consideration. He more recently commented that “every one of us is involved in photography, film and television. We look at photographs in newspapers when we get up in the morning, we see moving photographs on the television before we go to bed. These media are part of everybody’s lives.” Under his stewardship, the museum became an internationally recognised institution, and, at its peak, the most popular museum outside of London. He went on to become Director of the ten National Museums and Galleries of Wales.
From a more personal perspective, Colin played an instrumental role in preserving Andor Kraszna-Krausz’s legacy, in 1985 initiating and securing the donation of KK’s book and photography collection to the NMPFT. After KK’s death in 1989 his personal archive and other material relating to his photographic publishing imprint, Focal Press, were also donated to the Museum, where they remains as a resource for research.
Colin was a great supporter of and friend to the Foundation, serving as Chair of Trustees from 2003 to 2010, regularly attending KKF events until very recently, and continuing to offer his insightful guidance and expertise as Trustee Emeritus.
His archive will be deposited with the Bodleian Library and his collection of photography books given to the National Museum Cardiff.
All of us at KKF send our condolences to Colin’s wife, Sue Grayson Ford, son and grandchildren, and wider family and friends.
With thanks to the following sources:
A comprehensive tribute to Colin Ford by Dr Michael Pritchard can be found on the British Photographic History forum here.
Image: A young Colin Ford. Uncredited picture sourced from this Oxford University profile: https://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/news/profile-colin-ford-cbe/