Doves and Dreams

Chronology

Events in the McNairs’ lives are listed separately until the early 1890s when the artists met and began to exhibit and work together.

1868–1894

James Herbert McNair

• 1868 Born, Glasgow, 23 December
• c. 1887 Studied painting in Rouen, France
• 1888 Joined Glasgow architectural practice of John Honeyman
• 1888–9 Attended evening classes at Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College
• 1889 Charles Rennie Mackintosh joined practice, now Honeyman & Keppie
• 1889–95 Attended evening classes at Glasgow School of Art
• 1895 Left Glasgow School of Art and Honeyman & Keppie; set up independent studio in Glasgow

Frances Macdonald McNair

• 1873 Born, Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, 24 August
• c. 1890 Family moved to Glasgow; enrolled Glasgow School of Art with her sister Margaret Macdonald
• 1894 Left Glasgow School of Art; set up independent studio with Margaret Macdonald in Glasgow

1894–1955

• 1894 Exhibited at the Glasgow School of Art Club autumn exhibition
• 1895 Posters exhibited at the Salon de l’Art Nouveau, Paris; decorative art and furniture exhibited at the Queen’s Rooms, Glasgow
• 1896 Posters exhibited at the Royal Aquarium, London; exhibited at the Autumn Exhibition, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; FM posters exhibited at the Société des Beaux Arts, Glasgow and the Glasgow Institute; FM exhibited at the 5th Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society exhibition, London
• 1897 Work featured in the Studio magazine; exhibited at the Autumn Exhibition, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; FM exhibited at the Glasgow Institute
• 1898 Work featured in Dekorative Kunst magazine; FM exhibited at the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolours; JHM exhibition of pastels, Gutekunst Gallery, London; JHM appointed Instructor in Design, School of Architecture and Applied Art, University College, Liverpool
• 1899 Exhibited at 3rd Venice Biennale; exhibited International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, London; married 14 June
• 1899–1900 Furnished and decorated their home, 54 Oxford Street, Liverpool
• 1900 Son, Sylvan, born 18 June; exhibited at the 8th Secession exhibition, Vienna; exhibited at the Educational Exhibition, Liverpool
• 1901 Costumes and scenery for Greek plays, University College, Liverpool; exhibited at the International Art Exhibition, Dresden
• 1902 Exhibited a ‘Lady’s Writing Room’ at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art, Turin; FM exhibited at Architecture and Design of the New Style, Moscow
• 1903 Greek plays, University College, Liverpool
• 1905 School of Architecture and Applied Art closed; JHM moved briefly to the City Art School, before joining the newly-formed Sandon Studios, Liverpool.
• 1906 JHM exhibited at the Liverpool Academy
• 1907–8 FM teaching at Glasgow School of Art
• 1908 Exhibited Sandon Studios, Liverpool, and Allied Artists Association, London
• c.1908 Left Liverpool and returned to Glasgow
• 1908–9 FM teaching at Glasgow School of Art
• 1909 Exhibited Allied Artists Association, London; McNair family declared bankrupt
• 1909–11 FM teaching at Glasgow School of Art
• 1911 Exhibited Sandon Studios, Liverpool; joint exhibition Baillie Gallery, London
• 1912 Exhibited Sandon Studios, Liverpool
• by 1913 McNair in Canada, returning before the outbreak of the First World War
• 1921 Frances Macdonald died, 12 December, Glasgow
• early 1920s JHM ran a garage in Linlithgow with his son
• late 1920s Sylvan emigrated to Rhodesia; JHM moved to Argyll, Scotland
• 1955 James Herbert McNair died, 22 April, at Innellan, Argyl

This is Macdonald’s last known work. It returns to the designs of the 1890s for the format of a beaten metal frame and the subject matter of a sleeping/dead woman.

The subject is Arachne, a nymph who attempted suicide having crossed the goddess Minerva and was turned into a spider. The subject perhaps presaged Macdonald’s own death later that year.