“The Macdonald Sisters”, 2023

The Art Nouveau movement in Glasgow, often referred to as the Glasgow Style, was a significant artistic and design movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It emerged as a reaction against the ornate and heavy Victorian style, emphasi...

The Art Nouveau movement in Glasgow, often referred to as the Glasgow Style, was a significant artistic and design movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It emerged as a reaction against the ornate and heavy Victorian style, emphasizing organic forms, flowing lines, and nature-inspired motifs. The movement was closely associated with the Glasgow School of Art and artists like Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Margaret Macdonald, and their contemporaries. They created distinctive works in architecture, furniture, textiles, and decorative arts, leaving a lasting impact on design and aesthetics. “The Macdonald Sisters” These two remarkable sisters were highly regarded artists of their day and were the bright young things of their time ! Margaret and Frances Macdonald and their Glasgow School of Art classmates Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Harold MacNair were Art Nouveau’s Glasgow Four. Margaret was married to the famous Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a member of the Glasgow ‘ Immortals’ in the late 19th century, and her decorative style of artwork along with her sisters Francis influenced Mackintosh and also one other particular artist called Gustav Klimt. It could be argued that they helped pave the way for the later Art Deco styles. But it was a mans world then, and their names are mere footnotes in the history of Art. Margaret was described as a woman who was totally original in looks and style. She had no poses, great masses of coppery burnished hair, above a broad brow and quiet eyes. Frances went on to marry Herbert McNair, another of the Immortals, and subsequently her work was overshadowed by her husbands. Bizarrely after Frances died, McNair burned all of her work, so very little survives of her. On the other hand Charles Mactintosh remained a true devotee of his wife Margaret and cited her as