Ary, The Glasgow Girls

Art Sunday; A style or School of Art

Glasgow Girls: Women in Art and Design, 1880-1920

Before start I have to say all of this is taken from a project I did a few years ago, I’ve just cut out most of the writing and tried to give the bare bones of it here. The pictures are not generally available on the internet, some may be but most are not, which is why the quality of the pictures is a little poor. They were originally scanned onto my computer a couple of years ago from illustrated art books. I used quite a few books at the time but if anyone is really interested in this work the book to get goes by the name ‘The Glasgow Girls; Women in Art and Design, 1880­-1920’  by Jude Burkhauser , hence my title for today. This is one of the best specialist art Books I’ve ever found and it is usually available quite cheap on Amazon.

The forgotten Artists ‘The Glasgow Girls’    

What is known as the ‘Glasgow Style’ is known mostly by the work of ‘The Glasgow Boys’. The female Artists of the time, and their work, is much less acknowledged. The painters Bessie MacNicol and Nora Neilson Grey are among the better known, possible because their work is easily identifiable with the work of the Glasgow Boys, their paintings share certain characteristics associated with ‘The Glasgow Style’. Charles Renée Mackintosh was central to the Glasgow movement and Margaret and Frances Macdonald are known as much for their inclusion in ‘The Four’, with Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Herbert MacNair, as for their individual work. Margaret Macdonald’s contribution to the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh was recognised by her contemporaries but became forgotten until the second half of the twentieth century. Researchers have asked the question ‘why, if these women were so visible in 1900 did they become virtually invisible by 1970?’. Some previously given answers have been; because the language of Art is gender specific, that is, ‘ the individual artistic creativity is spoken and written of as a male attribute’, another answer has been that the traditional textbooks used by those teaching Art History have not included women Artists’.  In mid to late nineteenth century there was a strict hierarchy within Art, the ‘Fine Arts’ of painting, sculpture and Architecture were dominated by men and the ‘lesser Arts’; watercolours, drawing, design and handicrafts were dominated by women. These things were considered ‘ladylike’ but not particularly artistic. Art Institutions and Schools were, as with all public bodies, run for men by men, with women playing little part. Craft and design were considered ‘less’ than fine Art and Art students were encouraged to progress from craft and toward fine Art.  Art Historians have largely ignored the contributions of these women artists but it was the women who contributed most to the development of  ‘Craft and Design’. They took what was traditionally associated with the women’s role; needlework, jewellery, fashion and costume design and turned  them into art forms in their own right. Needlework became known as ‘Artistic Needlework at the School of Art’.  Previously, these things had been considered ladylike but not particularly artistic.  The Glasgow Style gained international recognition due initially to the work of the ‘Glasgow Boys’, mostly painters, but it was the women who brought recognition to craft and design.  The work of the women has been largely forgotten but they were responsible for bringing women out of the private domain and into the public arena, at least as far as the Art World was concerned. Prior to this women Artists had no public platform, their work was confined to the home and undervalued when compared to the better known and accepted paintings of the mostly male painters.

'A Ponde by Francis MacDonald

                                    

The Glasgow Girls

There were several pairs of sisters included in ‘The Glasgow Girls’

There was Margaret and Frances Macdonald, (sisters). Margaret married Charles Rennie Macintosh and Frances married Herbert MacNair, they were collectively known as  'the four' The illustrations 2 and 3 are watercolours called 'the Spook School' by the MacDonald sisters.

 Agnes and Lucy Raeburn (sisters),

Illustration 4 & 5, lithographic poster by Agnes Raeburn,1897, Bookplate for Lucy Raeburn, 1893, by Frances Macdonald

 Poster by Agnes Raeburn

 Margaret and Mary Gilmore, (sisters)

Illustration 6 & 7, White metal paper knife by Margaret 1910, Brass dish by Mary 1901

Hanna and Helen Walton, (sisters)

Illustration 8 & 9, tea set by Helen Walton 1905, Ceramic tile by Hanna Walton

 Dorothy and Olive Carlton Smyth, (sisters)

Illustration 10 & 11, Costume by Dorothy 1900’s and Pytheas buys Amber, colour on vellum 1927

Other central figures include

Jessie Newbery

 (Wife of the head of The Glasgow School of Art Fra Newbury),

Illustration 12, collar and belt embroidered and appliquéd

 Agnes Bankie Harvey,

Illustration 13, Crescent Moon in Brass thought to be by Agnes

 Nora Neilson Grey,

Illustration 14,Little brother, oil on canvas 1920

Annie French,

Illustration 15, Watercolour The five princesses

 Jessie M King,

Illustration 16, 17 & 18 Silver and Enamel Pendent, 1910, illustration for Oscar Wild and Helen Paxton Brown, 1904, Chalk and watercolour.

 Ann Macbeth.

Illustration 19, Watercolou,r  Elspeth Currie age eight

De Courcy Lewthwaite Dewar

Illustration 20, Silver Cup & Cover, 1912.

Female teachers at The Glasgow School of Art.

It was Jessie Newbury’s husband, Fra who encouraged women artists to become members of his staff. When Newbury took over in 1885 there were no female members of staff, then in 1892 he employed a ‘Miss Dunlop’ to teach ‘artistic needlework’. There is a reference in the ‘annual report’ that year to ‘artistic needlework taught by a lady.

Jessie Newbury and Ann Macbeth both taught artistic needlework and gained international reputations for their work.

Jessie M King became famous for her work as a book illustrator and jewellery designer and taught illustrating and ceramic decoration.

Ann Macbeth took over from Jessie Newbury and became head of embroidery in 1909.

Margaret and Frances Macdonald left the school in 1894 and set up their own studio in Glasgow.

Frances also taught embroidery and metalwork design between 1908-1910.

Agnes Bankie Harvey taught metal work, enamelling and goldsmithing.

De Courcy Lewthwaite Dewar taught enamelling and other applied arts between 1900-1928.

Susan Crawford taught etching.

Helen Muir Wood taught enamelling and block cutting.

Nora Neilson Grey taught fashion plate drawing.

Annie French taught ceramic decoration.

Helen Paxton Brown, Margaret Swanson and Ann Arthur all taught in the school of embroidery and needlework.

Sisters Dorothy and Olive Carlton Smyth taught wood block printing, metalwork, gold and silver smithing, mosaics, lithography, miniature painting and the history of costume and armour.

I think these women produced some wonderful work and gave recognition and high profile to craft work which was previously looked down on by the art World. Somehow they have been forgoten by history which is a great shame.

delete reply ruraldiva wrote on Jul 20, '08 Literaly stumbled upon this and will be back for more.

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Jul 10, '08 Little brother is stunning.

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Jul 7, '08 What wonderful and amazing works of art. I am completely impressed. Thank you.

delete reply starfishred wrote on Jul 6, '08 wow what a wonderful tour thanks I will be back more to see all these wonderful links

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Jul 6, '08 Yes, a shame that they should be forgotten if the rest of their work is anything like you've posted here. I'm going to go have a look at the pictures now, but just wanted to thank you for giving us a lesson in Scottish art, especially about The Glasgow Girls.