Margaret Macdonald
January 13, 2010
Margaret MacDonald was a member of the Glasgow Four and was also Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s wife and collaborated with him in several artistic endeavours.
Often overshadowed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Margaret remains an artist in her own right and produced a wide range of objects ranging from embroidery, gesso panels, watercolours and glass.
Her work was linear and had a decorative quality and she especially used semi precious gems as decorative elements. Her works were often used to decorate the interior designed schemes by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and added to the entire concept of the Gesamtkuntswerk, in which the entire work of art was created.
Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh was influenced by William Blake in her use of linear decoration, rigid symmetry, rows and parallels. This is also shown in her use of curved bands, lines and stripes.
Her work, although decorative, tended to look to stylised figural representation, and often juxtaposed figural representation with symbolic icons such as the rose, heart and bud motif. This can be seen in the image on the left which demonstrates a linear decorative quality whilst using symbolism in the female figure and the rose motif.
