Charles Rennie Mackintosh – the father of art nouveau - is the most famous member of a group of artists that became known as the ‘Glasgow Four’, made up of himself, his friend James Herbert McNair and the MacDonald sisters, Frances and Margaret. Mackintosh eventually married Margaret and McNair married Frances. The sisters have been largely overshadowed by the reputation of Macintosh. The work of Frances in particular has been neglected - in part because much of it was destroyed by her husband after she died. An exhibition of her work, and that of McNair, entitled ‘Doves and Dreams’ is on at Liverpool’s Walker Gallery. Caz Graham speaks to Pamela Robertson, senior curator at the Hunterian Art Gallery at the University of Glasgow, and to the Scottish writer Liz Lochhead, about the importance of the MacDonald sisters.
