Glasgow Girl Annie French is best remembered for her intricate and delicate fairytale illustrations. Born in 1872, French’s parents encouraged her artistic talent, which culminated in her attending The Glasgow School of Art (GSA).
At the turn of the 20th century the GSA was a dynamic and innovative artistic environment, captained by Francis Newbery who fostered the talents of other renowned artists including Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Jessie M King, E. A. Taylor and Ann Macbeth.
The first decade of the 20th century saw French’s work regularly reviewed and published in the decorative arts journal The Studio, the first mention of her work being a ‘quaint and fanciful’ submission to the 1902 GSA annual exhibition; a show in which students had the opportunity to showcases work completed over their summer vacation. Contemporary critics are quick to make comparisons between French’s work and the black-ink drawings of English illustrator Aubrey Beardsley. There is a common conviction however, that French’s work is ‘more than an imitation’ and rather ‘an exquisite pattern woven from a fanciful usage of dots and lines [Beardsley’s] method suggested’. French’s generally small-scale pen and ink illustrations deploy minimal use of colour, instead favouring a heavy reliance on intricate patterns to add detail to both her fantastical figures and their surroundings.
As French’s career progressed her work was exhibited across the United Kingdom, including in the Scottish Guild of Handicraft Exhibition, the Royal Academy Exhibition and at John Baillie’s London Galleries, a venue which also supported Glasgow Boy John Lavery and Scottish Colourist Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell. Whilst French’s art is praised as ‘skilful and fascinating’ in the Studio Magazine of 1913, the labelling of her work as ‘feminine’ perhaps limited her popularity in her lifetime. Whereas current admirers see her output as charmingly decorative, one early commentator misunderstood her style, asserting ‘she does not succeed as a realist’.
In 1914 Annie French married the printmaker George Wooliscroft Rhead and the pair settled in London, although Rhead sadly died just a few years later. French eventually retired to St Helier on Jersey, where she lived until her death in 1965.
