George Ford Morris was a painter, printmaker, sculptor and illustrator, who specialized in painting famous horses, their owners and riders. Born in Missouri, he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Académie Julian in Paris. He wrote and illustrated Portraitures of Horses and George Ford Morris Animals, the latter of which was published for three consecutive years and bound in Christmas issues of The American Horseman. In addition to being a regular contributor to equestrian and racing magazines, he illustrated for Century and Scribners.

"George Ford Morris is unquestionably one of the leading portrayers of animals. At sixteen he was an illustrator for the authoritative magazine, The Horseman, and at seventeen, he was known as that brilliant young animal artist whose illustrations appeared regularly in The American Sportsman, Breeder's Gazette, The Trotter and Pacer, and The Western Horseman.

He was a Founder Member of the American Animal Artists Association of which he has been Chairman and President since 1937. He is as much at home in sculpture as painting and prefers the former, but is kept too busy at the latter to indulge his preference. He has completed many lithographs of famous horses, three illustrated historical books, and is completing the George Ford Morris Collection of more than six hundred items embracing portraits of many of the most important stallions and champion horses of the last three centuries."

References:
Falk, Peter Hastings, ed. Who Was Who in American Art. Madison, Connecticut: Sound View Press, 1985. p. 431.

Gilbert, Dorothy B., ed. Who's Who in American Art. New York: American Federation of Arts and R.R. Bowker, 1959. p. 406.