Every year, European Heritage Days give the association the opportunity to explore a little more of the world in which Charles and Margaret lived: their cultural, social and artistic environment.
This year, our expert, Peter Trowles (who was one of the curators at the Glasgow School of Art for thirty years) came to talk to us about the ‘Glasgow Girls’ with his usual expertise.
These ‘Glasgow Girls’ were given this name retrospectively to mirror the ‘Glasgow Boys’. They were a group of young artists who, from the 1870s onwards, opposed the prevailing academic style and left their studios to paint contemporary rural subjects directly from life. From the 1880s onwards, the Glasgow School of Art was an avant-garde institution committed to offering women the opportunity to study and express their talents – in painting, decoration, needlework and so on – and even to become renowned teachers.
This is how we were able to discover the works of some of these women, such as Jessie Newbury, Annie French, Bessie MacNicol, Ann Macbeth, Decourcy Lewthwaite Dewar, Jessie King and, of course, Margaret and Frances Macdonald… The conference attracted a large, enthusiastic and diverse audience, and if you missed it, the list above should allow you to find out more.
The quality of Peter Trowles’s presentation and the enthusiasm of many participants encourage us to stay on this course, even though we noted a marked drop in visitor numbers at the Port-Vendres centre on the afternoons of Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th. However, the interest shown by all visitors gave us heart: quality more than makes up for quantity!
It should be noted that at our Christmas party scheduled for 18th December, the ‘Ladies of Glasgow’ will continue to take centre stage, as the exhibition at the Port-Vendres centre dedicated to Margaret Madonald Mackintosh will still be on display. It features an additional panel on her contemporaries and, new for this year, 2027 calendars featuring the Ladies of Glasgow.