According to Claire E. Jones with InquiriesJournal.com, “Margaret and Frances Macdonald embodied this ‘new woman’ with their status and education as professional artists and the visual motifs that they accordingly employed. They managed to combine feminine and masculine characteristics into one figure in their works, effectively establishing an androgynous figure. In the process they managed to establish an equality, if not superiority, of women and men.
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The director, Francis H. Newbery, was committed to an excellence in art that combined functionalism with beauty while encouraging individuality and experimentation among his students. Here the instructors trained the Macdonald girls as professional artists. This is also where they met their future husbands, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and James Herbert McNair. These four youths came to be known as the “Glasgow Four” during their time at the school.”
I think these ladies seem pretty awesome and I love the way their work seems to sway. AND they are the first female painters I’ve blogged about. Their styles are similar, but still unique to each of them. So inspiring! I can’t wait to learn about more artists.
Click here for last week’s artist from history
