Highlights Archives
Picturing Madison: Ford's Watercolors
With Madison's 150th Anniversary fast approaching, here's a little preview of a collection that illustrates just how much some of the city's streetscapes have changed, while others look much the same today. Try for a moment to imagine what Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard would have looked like in the 1880s, when it was Monona Avenue, lined with stately residences built by the most prominent Madison families. If you're having trouble visualizing this former incarnation of Martin Luther King Jr. boulevard, now filled with commercial and government buildings, then take a look at the stunning watercolors Winifred Ford painted in 1938-39 of some of the houses on Monona Avenue, as well as other important Madison buildings she depicted for posterity.
Many of Madison's earliest grand homes were long gone by 1940, as their owners had died or moved to even more elegant dwellings in "the country" — which was only a mile or two from the Capitol in the late 1800s. They were replaced with buildings that have since been razed and built over, some more than once. Of the 40 buildings represented in our collection of Winifred Ford's paintings, fully half no longer exist — so her detailed watercolors of those demolished after she painted them serve as an important architectural record.
True, we do have black-and-white photographs of a number of these early buildings, providing the most accurate visual record. However, Mrs. Ford's use of vivid colors in her paintings gives the viewer the feeling of jumping back in time. The structures come alive, and the surrounding landscapes bloom with color.
It remains unclear why Mrs. Ford chose to utilize her talents to create these marvelous images. Unfortunately, we have found no written records or living descendants to provide any insights. Perhaps it was solely a means of artistic expression, or maybe it was a way of providing income for herself and her husband during a difficult time. (The Depression was lingering on, and Marcus Ford's work with the Works Progress Administration ended in 1937; he died in 1941.) Regardless of Winifred Ford's reasons for creating these beautiful watercolors, Madisonians should be grateful that she left such an important and colorful record of now vanished city street scenes.
An intriguing possibility is that more of her paintings survive in private hands — their existence known only by the owners. If so, the Wisconsin Historical Society invites anyone who privately owns one or more of her paintings to contact us so that we can compile as complete a record as possible about Winifred Ford's own "Madison Parade of Homes."
:: Posted February 24, 2006
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