The Glasgow Girls: Margaret MacDonald

[Luna Arjuna]

The Glasgow Girls: Margaret MacDonald

The White Rose and the Red Rose, 1902 - Margaret MacDonald

painted gesso over hessian, with glass beads
97.8 cm. x 100.3 cm (38½ in. x 39½ in.)
Auctioned at Christie's in 2008 for in between £200.000 GBP - £300.000 GBP

In late 1901, Fra Newbery, Headmaster of the Glasgow School of Art, was invited to select contemporary Scottish designs for the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art in Turin, scheduled to open in April 1902. Newbery chose mostly graduates of his school. The exhibition space was divided into three sections: a bay for Mackintosh and his wife, Margaret Macdonald (1864-1933); a room-setting by Herbert and Frances McNair; and a mixed exhibition area with showcases and additional items designed by Mackintosh.

Mackintosh and Macdonald called their room the 'Rose Boudoir,' an elegant sitting or writing room with furniture painted white or black, featuring two gesso panels on the theme of the rose by Margaret Macdonald. These panels, "The White Rose and the Red Rose" and "The Heart of the Rose," were duplicates, likely made using a full-sized cartoon or template. "The Heart of the Rose" was a variant of a panel for Mr. Wylie Hill's fireplace in Glasgow, and "The White Rose and the Red Rose" also exists in a more elaborate version for the Mackintoshes' home.

Margaret Macdonald made other small gesso panels for the exhibition, incorporated into a black writing cabinet designed by Mackintosh. These works were acquired by Fritz Wärndorfer of Vienna, who commissioned further panels for his Music Salon in 1902.

The Rose Boudoir is a collaborative venture, with Macdonald venturing into new ground inspired by Mackintosh's earlier work. The panels reflect an osmotic relationship between the two artists. Just as Mackintosh's furniture adopted a more feminine style, the structure of these gessos shows Macdonald's assimilation of her husband's gifts. She went on to create gesso panels for Mackintosh's interiors at the Willow Tea Rooms, The Hill House, and Hous'hill, culminating in her masterpiece "The Seven Princesses" in 1906.

The Rose Boudoir represented the pinnacle of Macdonald's work with her husband. The architecture, furniture, and decorative features formed a harmonious space, with panels depicting roses and female forms in a lyrical and symbolist manner. The imagery conveyed both maternal and sensual love, aligning with European Symbolist art while retaining a strong connection to the Glasgow avant-garde.

Between 1900 and 1909, Macdonald primarily worked in gesso, achieving a distinctive elegance within tightly refined graphic compositions. Her versatility extended to watercolour, graphics, metalwork, and embroidery, following her training under Fra Newbery at the Glasgow School of Art.

She is ranked among the Glasgow Girls, a name given to the women artists from the same art school, coined by Judy Berkhauser when she curated an exhibition about Scottish women in art during the period 1880-1920.

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