Margaret MacDonald and Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Our latest lecture was a stimulating look at Margaret Mackintosh Macdonald in the context of

her life and work, her links to her husband, her sister and 'The Four' in general.  Frances

Dryburgh's look at this was also to let us see how views on Margaret, her 'talent' or 'genius',

or not, have changed from that of her own time, mostly positive, especially in Vienna and

Turin, to being thought of, not only as of limited worth, but as a hindrance to her husband's

work, and back to a more balanced view today.  A very recent article emphasised the last

view.  The impossibility of ever knowing from the records how much input she had to

Charles's work was also noted.  Frances is always a joy to hear and this lecture was another

example of her knowledge and enthusiasm for us to share.

Margaret Anderson

GROWTH: a GoMA Youth Group exhibition

Last year, FoGM agreed to support a project aimed at bringing together members of the GOMA YOUTH GROUP (GYG) (ages 16 to 25 years) and local artists. GYG worked alongside curatorial teams and Learning and Access to engage with contemporary art and find out about careers in the museum sector. The outcome of this was a short exhibition at GoMA which showed the work produced in collaboration. The show aimed to explore how the GYG generation deals with an increasingly complex and fluid world. On the 18^th February members of FoGM visited the show and were introduced to the artists, the exhibits and some members of GYG. Food for thought!

Visit to the Hunterian

Struan in front of “ Spring in Glasgow”

 by J D Ferusson. 

  Thanks to Michael Hutchinson

On10th February, an intrepid small group braved Storm Ciara, to enjoy a visit to the re-hung Hunterian Art Gallery highlights.  The galleries are now themed, and the guide, Struan, chose a small number of paintings to illustrate these, e.g. Imagination and Observation, Practice and Process.  He noted that there was a superficial meaning to these but that each was layered to allow a deeper look.  We started with Gavin Hamilton's very large 'Hector's Farewell to Andromache' and finished with a Joan Eardley seastorm at Catterline, showing how she did more than observe but immersed herself in the experience.  Jacob Stella's 'Flight into Egypt done on black slate showed how the artist had to bring the Light of Christ, dominating the picture from a dark base, where other artists start with a light canvas and add darker colours to it.  Struan was very knowledgeable and gave us good insights to the pictures. He offered plenty of time for question and discussion and talked before and after the tour to the group as individuals.  It was well worth braving the weather to enjoy this.

Margaret Anderson