Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh was one of the leading creative figures of the Glasgow Style, celebrated for her work in gesso, metalwork, textiles, and watercolour.
Born in Tipton, Staffordshire, she moved to Glasgow in the early 1890s with her sister Frances to study at the Glasgow School of Art. Together, they quickly became part of a pioneering circle of artists who pushed boundaries in design and decorative arts.
Her partnership with Charles Rennie Mackintosh, whom she married in 1900, produced some of the most iconic interiors of the period, including the Willow Tea Rooms and the Ingram Street Tearooms. Margaret’s distinctive panels, richly symbolic, often featuring ethereal female figures and flowing, abstracted forms, played a central role in these schemes, demonstrating her ability to combine narrative, decoration, and structure in a highly original way.
Although her career was relatively short, Margaret’s influence was profound. She was widely exhibited, admired by European contemporaries such as Gustav Klimt, and remains central to any understanding of the Glasgow Style. Her work exemplifies the fusion of imagination, symbolism, and craftsmanship that defined turn-of-the-century design in Scotland and beyond.
