“Art is the Flower. Life is the Green Leaf. Let every artist strive to make his flower a beautiful living thing, something that will convince the world that there may be, there are, things more precious more beautiful – more lasting than life itself.” -Charles Rennie Mackintosh
This week we read, “The Scottish Sisters who Pioneered Art Nouveau,” by Cynthia Green (read the article here). This short article provides a nice summary of the family dynamic and light biographical details of the four artists – sisters, Margaret and Frances MacDonald and their art school classmates and eventual spouses, Herbert MacNair and Charles Rennie Mackintosh – the defining members of the “Glasgow School.” Ephraim has looked to Mackintosh often for design inspiration, but we were not very familiar with the work of the other three members of his circle. Prompted by this article we explore the work of the MacDonald sisters and MacNair.
The Glasgow School and the Arts & Crafts Movement
While Charles Rennie Mackintosh is by far the most prolific and influential of the four artists, the other three contributed significantly to the body of work created in this distinct Scottish style. The Glasgow School produced an impressive range of architecture, furniture, metalwork, illustrations, embroidery among other decorative arts. Influenced by William Morris and John Ruskin, these artists eschewed machine-made decorative arts and applied their characteristic looping lines, elongated female figures, and loosely rendered flowers to many different kinds of objects. Mackintosh and his wife, Margaret, were the most prolific because they worked commercially after art school in Glasgow and London. The MacNair’s settled into domestic life after art school and largely made objects for their own use at home.
Examples of work by Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh
Examples of work by Frances MacDonald MacNair
Examples of work by Herbert MacNair
Ephraim’s nod to Mackintosh
Over the years we have incorporated the “Mackintosh Rose” into several designs. We like the loose, free-hand, simplified rose and find that it works well with the rigid structure of our classic Arts & Crafts designs and Rhythm Line pieces. Here are examples from our current body of work:
Tall Craftsman Rose Vase in Cranberry, Autumn Reflections, Curdled Teal and Algae $198
