Hortense Gordon (born 24 November 1886, Hamilton, ON; died 6 November 1961, Hamilton, ON) was a trailblazing painter and one of the two female founding members of the renowned Ontario-based abstract artist group, Painters Eleven. A key figure influenced by Abstract Expressionism, Gordon's career also included teaching design and applied arts, such as ceramics, at a Hamilton technical school.

Born Hortense Crompton Mattice, Gordon exhibited her passion for art early, earning a scholarship at eight for Saturday morning classes at the Hamilton Art School. By 17, she attended the Hamilton Technical and Art School part-time and later moved to Chatham, Ontario, to live with relatives. Visits to Detroit museums and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, exposed her to early modernist works by Picasso and Matisse. Gordon's art education continued at the Ursuline convent in Chatham, where she studied painting and china decoration, inspired by William Morris of the British Arts and Crafts Movement. In 1917, she returned to Hamilton to teach, establishing a ceramics course at the Hamilton Technical Institute and advocating for art's integration with industry.

Gordon and her husband spent summers in Étaples, France, where her exposure to European modernism deepened. Her work shifted from landscapes to Cubism and ultimately to abstraction. By 1953, at 67, Gordon co-founded Painters Eleven, further refining her abstract style in the 1940s and 1950s.

A member of the Ontario Society of Artists and an associate of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, Gordon also organized art talks and exhibitions, fostering a vibrant art community. After her husband’s retirement, she led the Hamilton Technical School's art department until 1951.

Gordon sought advanced training in abstraction, studying with Hans Hofmann in Massachusetts and at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. Her work gained international attention, showcased in exhibitions across the U.S. and Canada, including a 1952 solo show in New York and a memorial retrospective at the Art Gallery of Hamilton in 1963.

Hortense Gordon's commitment to art education and innovation cemented her legacy as a pioneering abstract artist in Canada. Her influence endures through her contributions to Painters Eleven and the broader art community.