Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh

Born in Newcastle-under-Lyme. Studied at Glasgow School of Art where she met Charles Rennie Mackintosh, marrying him in 1900. Together with Mackintosh, her sister, Frances, and Charles's friend Herbert MacNair (who married Frances in 1899), formed the group known as 'The Four', who worked in close association and were pioneers of the so-called Glasgow Style. Her watercolours were influential in Mackintosh's own creative development, and she collaborated with him on many of his decorative and architectural projects. Her early work belongs to what came to be known as the 'Spook School' of Celtic expression. All four artists were heavily influenced by Aubrey Beardsley and Jan Toorop, whose work The Three Brides is considered to be of primary significance in the development of the Glasgow Style. After her marriage Margaret Macdonald's work changed and she began to concentrate on decorative gesso panels, such as those executed for the Willow Tearooms and the Wandorfer Music Salon in Vienna. In 1914 she and Charles settled in England, living in Chelsea 1916-23, and then at Port Vendres in the French Pyrenees (1923-7). No drawings have come to light from these later years.

Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh Images:
Opera of the Seas, 1903
Opera of the Winds, 1903