Gordon Bird was born in Croydon in 1921. He followed his father into the art department of Sir Joseph Causton, printers, and moved to Chandlersford in 1939 when the firm moved to Eastleigh at the start of the war. He returned to the firm after war service in the RAF, and remained with them until retirement in the mid '80s. He still lives in the same house. Gordon’s most interesting work falls naturally into four main sections corresponding to periods of his life:
Early Paintings: His private art from about 1938 until 1950.
Commercial Work: For Causton’s during the '50s and '60s, often designing posters.
Photography: From the late '60s until the '80s he flourished with Southampton Camera Club.
Later Paintings: In the '70s and '80s teaching others aroused his old enthusiasm.

Gordon is a quiet, self-effacing man who has never sought to publicise his work, other than exhibiting with the local Romsey Art Group and Southampton Camera Club. His friends feel that his art deserves a wider audience, and we hope you will enjoy the small samples in the galleries.

Addendum, May 2006: Sadly, Gordon died on 19th April 2006, a few days after his 85th birthday. Although he had not painted for some years, he was otherwise active right up to the end and died suddenly while preparing to drive down to us that morning. The chapel was crammed with friends and relatives at his cremation.

Unfortunately, a year or so before his death, Gordon parted with most of his paintings for a pittance to a casual trader who called at the door. Gordon was rather confused, as can happen at that age, and failed to take the man's name or other particulars. And so he, and we, lost track of much of his work. We would of course be interested to hear from anyone who comes across his paintings. A contact email address is given on our Contact Page.

A catalogue showing much of Gordon's work may be seen and downloaded here: Catalogues

Gordon's family have asked us to hold his remaining paintings. They would like them to go to his friends and relatives as far as possible. A pdf document showing just these paintings can be seen or downloaded from the catalogues link above.