top of page

Hunterian Museum & Art Gallery

Margaret Macdonald The Legend of the Bla

Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, The Legend of the Blackthorns, 1921 – 1923, © The Hunterian, University of Glasgow.

Keywords

Glasgow Girls; Margaret Macdonald; Frances Macdonald McNair; Beatrice Whistler; Glasgow Style

Institution Profile

Home to one of the finest University collections anywhere, The
Hunterian is a leading university museum, and the oldest public
museum in Scotland. Built on Dr William Hunter’s founding bequest, the collections include major art holdings. With one of the world’s most important representation of Whistler and his circle (including his wife Beatrice); the largest single holding of works by the artists known as the Four (the sisters Margaret and Frances Macdonald, plus Charles
Rennie Mackintosh and Herbert McNair), one of Scotland’s most
important and extensive works on paper collection and a rich collection of works by Scottish, European and North American artists, it offers outstanding resources for the study of art, design, architecture, and patronage.

 

Collection Interests
‌Holdings of Scottish women artists at the turn of the 20th century offer a broad scope of works that displays the shifts from the Arts and Crafts movement to early modern influences. These include:
Stanmore Dean
Margaret MacDonald
Frances MacNair
Annie French
Jessie M King
Bessie McNicol
Agnes Raeburn
Eleanor Robertson More
Helen Walton
Lily Blatherwick
Phoebe Traquair


Within the next generation, Anne Dunlop Alexander, Laura Anning Bell, Norah Neilson Gray, Agnes Parker Miller, Alison and Winifred McKenzie, Katherine Cameron or Viola Paterson are among the artists featured.
 

The representation of more recent significant Scottish women artists, from Joan Eardley to Ithell Colquhoun, Mary Armour, Anne Redpath, Elizabeth Blackadder, Hannah Frank, Alison Watt, Barbara Walker, Jo Ganter and Christine Borland to name but a few, highlights their
role in the development of modern and contemporary art.

 

Holding a broad approach, the Hunterian collections offer opportunities to expand on the notion of women and art; and to explore the role of women in the art trade; as collectors; or
in the museum sector.

 

Today the Hunterian aims to enhance further its representation of significant Scottish women artists, and to share with its audience a better understanding of the role played by women in fine arts, design, craft and architecture. Current acquisition policies, specific
projects and ongoing review of works by women in our public displays reflect this ambition.

​

Further Reading

​

https://www.gla.ac.uk/hunterian/collections

​

​

bottom of page