Everything about Frances Macdonald totally explained
Frances MacDonald (
1873–
1921) was a
Scottish artist whose design work was a prominent feature of the "Glasgow Style" during the 1890s.
The sister of better known artist
Margaret MacDonald, she was born near
Wolverhampton, and moved to
Glasgow with her family in 1890. Both sisters enrolled in painting classes at the
Glasgow School of Art in 1891, where they met the
architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh and artist
Herbert MacNair. Frances went on to marry MacNair, and Margaret married MackIntosh. All four later became the loose collective of the
Glasgow School known as "The Four".
In the mid 1890s the sisters left the School to set up an independent studio together. They collaborated on
graphics,
textile designs, book
illustrations and
metalwork, developing a distinctive style influenced by
mysticism,
symbolism and
Celtic imagery. Frances also produced produced a wide variety of other artistic work, including
embroidery,
gesso panels and
water colour paintings. Like her sister, she was influenced by the work of
William Blake and
Aubrey Beardsley and this is reflected in her use of elongated figures and linear elements. The sisters exhibited in
London,
Liverpool and
Venice.
In 1899 she married MacNair and joined him in Liverpool where he was teaching at the School of Architecture and Applied Art. The couple painted watercolours and designed
interiors, exhibiting a Writing Room at the International Exhibition of Modern Art in
Turin, and Frances began teaching. In the early 1900s they also exhibited in Liverpool, London, Vienna and
Dresden. The closure of the School in 1905, and the loss of the MacNair family wealth through business failure, led to a slow decline in their careers, and they returned to Glasgow in 1909. In the years that followed, Frances painted a moving series of symbolist watercolours addressing the choices facing women, such as marriage and motherhood.
Frances' achievements are less well known than those of her sister, due in part to her departure from Glasgow, but also because her husband destroyed many of her works after her death. Both sisters works were also frequently overshadowed by the achievements of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Margaret died in Glasgow in 1921.
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