Works on Paper by 'The Four'
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Glasgow Museums has an important collection of approximately 34 works on paper that relate to the artists known collectively as 'The Four' – Charles Rennie Mackintosh, his future wife Margaret Macdonald, her younger sister Frances Macdonald and her future husband James Herbert McNair. These works date from the late 19th to early 20th century. This collection includes drawings, watercolours, prints, stencil cards and pastels. It includes significant early works by The Four including 'Part Seen, Imagined Part' by Mackintosh, 'The Four Seasons' by the Macdonald sisters, 'The Lily's Confession' by McNair, and 'The Sleeping Princess'. The latter work represents the only known pastel drawing by Frances Macdonald. The earliest works in the collection by Mackintosh are two architectural pencil sketches from about 1889 and two flower studies from between 1904 and 1905. Other works on paper by Mackintosh include five important late watercolours: 'The Grey Iris', 'Pinks', 'A Southern Port', 'Port Vendres – la Ville' and 'The Village of La Lagonne'. The collection also holds three poster designs, two for the Scottish Musical Review by Mackintosh and one for the Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts by the Macdonald sisters and McNair. In addition there are two printed menu cards and a design drawing for a menu card by the Macdonald sisters for Miss Cranston's luncheon and tearooms at The Scottish Exhibition of National History in Kelvingrove Park 1911. Other items include a textile design, a design drawing for tearoom furniture, two woodblock prints on cloth of book covers and a unique series of eight cut stencil cards used by Guthrie and Wells for the execution of Mackintosh's stencil schemes at The Hill House and The Buchanan Street tearooms. During the 1890s The Four studied at The Glasgow School of Art. Through their work they defined the Glasgow Style, an influential movement in modern European art.
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