| Although
less celebrated than their counterparts, the Macnairs were
enormously influential in developing the
Glasgow Style. Herbert notably introduced Charles to the crucial notion of symbolism in architecture, while Frances was by all
accounts esteemed as a peer by her much older sister and other
associates.
We can only dream of what
they might've achieved in continuing association with the
MacKintoshes. Their move to Liverpool was surely the worst decision of their lives ...
barring Frances' suicide (if that's what it was) and Herbert's
eventual destruction of all their unsold paintings and
drawings. In the absence of those works, one can't be
certain but, based on images available online, their
early work was edgier and more interesting than the later
productions.
Herbert, from a military
family also active in the shipping trade, was educated at the
Collegiate School, Greenock, and encouraged by his father to
pursue a career in engineering. Instead, he studied for a
year in Rouen with French watercolor master Haudebert and then
apprenticed himself to the architectural firm Charles joined in
1889 as a draftsman. Both young men were 21, but
Charles came from more modest circumstances, left school at 15
and had already served a long apprenticeship
elsewhere. With each other for inspiration and company,
they began attending evening classes together at the Glasgow School of
Art, where Charles had been enrolled off and on since
1883. The GSA offered a self-paced curriculum.
Day students there, the Macdonald sisters enjoyed a
lively friendship along with kinship ...
despite or perhaps due to a significant difference in
age. Certainly they were less likely to be rivalrous, given
that Frances was born when Margaret was about 10 years old. The younger
girl's precocious skill in art was no doubt nurtured by her sibling,
along with interest in the Celtic legends associated with their girlhood
home in Staffordshire.
Their father being
Glasgow-born, the Macdonald sisters had relatives in Scotland
and, to the clan, Herbert appeared a far more desirable suitor
than Charles,
when professional alliances and then romances were kindled among The
Four. Within a few years, this appraisal changed
dramatically, as was previously discussed in the Overview.
They even tried to palm him off onto Canada by paying his way
there alone to look for employment, but he bounced back within a
few months like the proverbial bad penny.
When shortly before
marrying Frances he accepted the post at Liverpool's
University College School of Architecture and Applied Art (aka The
Art Sheds), he'd just been featured
in glowing articles by the influential magazine, The Studio.
His star was high. It
was still shiny in 1902, when he designed The Writing
Room shown in Turin as part of an acclaimed exhibition of
Glasgow Style including works by Charles, Margaret and
Frances. He soon, however, succeeded in fading from view.
Herbert's biography on the
Liverpool University site reads like an apologia, suggesting
that he
avoided architectural work and took the teaching post in order
to avoid competing with Charles in Glasgow. If so, one has to
conclude it wasn't out of compassion but because he knew himself
outclassed in that arena. Based on my research, he was
simply most keen on painting and theorizing, so no doubt the
university's statement that he was a popular and effective
instructor is quite true. Perhaps he sought to emulate the
teacher who did so much for all the group at the GSA, Francis
Newbery. There's something to be said for having a captive
audience, too. In this later photo , he looks the
type who'd enjoy it.
According to the university
website, Frances also taught art there. (This
wasn't mentioned by other sources.) After the exile to
Liverpool, one of her most notable projects was a series of
four appliquéd
embroideries
for the Viennese music salon decorated by Charles and
Margaret. The subjects Hope, Truth, Delight and Harmony
appeared on a curtain separating the music and dining rooms of a
house destroyed by war.
Both Frances and Herbert were included
last year in a small show of early 20th century watercolors at
the institution's Lady Lever Art Gallery, titled for Herbert's
Love in a Mist. Their fellow-instructor, Robert Anning
Bell (ever heard of him?) got better billing. Its focus
was on their idealization of the dreamy Middle Ages; some never got over it.
Herbert never got over
France's death, either. Commentators observed that, in his
grief at Frances' premature and perhaps deliberate demise, he
responded in a manner more characteristic of 'Toshie.'
Charles lost much but luckily never had to bear a
comparable sorrow.
As a measure of what Frances lost, consider these two depictions of Ophelia. The first was hers, painted in 1898 when she was 24. The second was painted 10 years later by Margaret at the age of 45. Styles changed, of course, and Margaret kept up with them. She also had the benefit of greater maturity. However, as for raw talent, both sisters were graced with an abundance.
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The Lovers, perhaps
as early as 1893. J. H. MacNair
Ill Omen: Girl in the East Wind
with Ravens Crossing the Moon, 1893
Frances Macdonald at age 19
Ysighlu,
1893
J. H. Macnair
Accompanied by the quotation: The very shadows of the cave worshipped her./The
little waves threw themselves at her feet and kissed them.
A Pond, 1894
Frances Macdonald at age 20
Figures Within Trees, c. 1886
Design for a decorative frieze
Frances Macdonald
The
Fountain c. 1896-97
Attributed tentatively to J. H. Macnair; may be by Frances or
Margaret.
Poster design, 1901
J. H. Macnair
The
Gift of Doves
1904
J. H. Macnair
The Choice
c. 1909
Frances Macdonald Macnair
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