Formidable talents:

Formidable talents: The Glasgow Girls and the Technical Art Studios at the Glasgow School of Art

In his inaugural 1885 address as the new Headmaster of the Glasgow School of Art, Francis Newbery stated emphatically that he wanted more women attending the Art School. By 1902 some of the key female talents and important contributors to the design canon of the Glasgow Style had studied at, or were teaching in, the School’s Technical Art Studios, and their work at exhibition and through publication was receiving international acclaim. Focussing on pieces in Glasgow Museums’ significant Glasgow Style collection, this talk takes a chronological approach looking at the rise of women’s design through Glasgow’s educational provision and how their talent and imagination helped shape Scotland’s significant contribution to Art Nouveau. Alison Brown is Curator for European Decorative Art and Design from 1800 at Glasgow Museums and Vice Chair of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society.