FRANCES MACDONALD MACNAIR (SCOTTISH 1874-1921) ‡
COVER DESIGN FOR 'DAS EIGENKLEID DER FRAU' BY ANNA MUTHESIUS
Auction: 7 September 2012 at 15:00 BST
Description
signed and inscribed in pencil, pencil, laid down
Dimensions
32 x 25cm (12½ x 9¾in)
Footnote
Provenance:
Phillips, London, 17 November 1998, lot 287
Literature:
Burkhauser, Jude 'Glasgow Girls: Women in Art and Design 1880-1920', Edinburgh 1990, p. 54, fig. 53 for illustration of printed book cover.
Robertson, Pamela (Edit.) 'Doves and Dreams: The Art of Frances Macdonald and J. Herbert MacNair', Hampshire 2006, p. 170, exhib. ref. G17; G18, cat. ill. 16 for an image of the printed cover.
Note:
Anna Muthesius (1870-1961) was married to the architectural writer Hermann Muthesius and the couple were good friends of the Glasgow Four, Fra Newbery and Mackintosh being godfather to Eckart Muthesius, their youngest son. Her book celebrates artistic dresses, usually made by their designers and includes plates showing the Macdonald sisters wearing such dresses along with similar examples designed by Jessie Newbery and worn by her daughters, Mary and Elsie. In 1902 Margaret Macdonald had designed a cover for 'Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration', showing a very stylised Glasgow figure adorned with roses. This design by Frances is more painterly and shows three women with billowing dresses entwined among briar rose tendrils.