Elizabeth MacNicol
Elizabeth "Bessie" MacNicol (born July 15, 1869 in Glasgow ; † June 4, 1904 ) was an important Scottish portrait painter of the Late Impressionism and an important representative of the Glasgow School .
Life
Elizabeth MacNicol, daughter of a Glasgow teacher , attended the Glasgow School of Art from 1887 to 1892 . The director of the school, Francis H. Newbery, encouraged her to deepen her studies in Paris at the Académie Colarossi . In 1893 one of her works was exhibited for the first time at the Royal Academy of Arts in London . On her return to Glasgow, MacNicol moved back in with her family. In 1895 the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts showed her work. In 1896 she bought a studio on St. Vincent Street. That year she also spent a lot of time in the small town of Kirkcudbright , where many of her fellow Glasgow artists stayed. Among them was Edward Atkinson Hornel , of whom MacNicol made a portrait that same year.
In 1899 she married Dr. Alexander Frew (1862–1908), who had previously tried his hand at being an artist, but now went back to his medical profession. Together they moved into a house in Hillhead, a district of Glasgow, where Elizabeth MacNicol set up a large studio at the back of the house. In 1901 her large-format nude study Vanity was exhibited in Munich . The artist died in 1904 at the age of 34 after only ten years of work, giving birth to her first child. Her husband, who only survived her a few years, married a young singer shortly before his death in 1908, who sold the house in Hillhead and all of Elizabeth MacNicol's paintings that same year. This could be one of the reasons why so little is known of MacNicol's work and life, because apart from a few letters and photos, no sketchbooks or other records have been found by the artist.
plant
At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Elizabeth MacNicol was an artist who was recognized and valued by her contemporaries, who was particularly successful with her portraiture . In the 1880s her painting technique and use of color was influenced by Edward Atkinson Hornel . Soon she was one of the Glasgow Girls , a group of young artists including Frances MacDonald McNair , Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh and Norah Neilson Gray , who had all attended the Glasgow School of Art and who now had a major impact on the Glasgow art scene. In the late 1890s she often painted young women posing under trees in alternation of light and shadow. The paintings should represent the beauty of youth and the seasons. In addition, these works illustrate her interest in the fashion of bygone eras. Elizabeth MacNicol used water colors as well as oil paints . Her paintings have been exhibited in Glasgow, London, Liverpool , Ghent , Munich , Dresden , Vienna , St. Petersburg , Pittsburgh and St. Louis . Her early death was seen as a great loss to Scottish art, but like other artists of the time, she was almost forgotten a few decades later.
literature
- Ailsa Tanner: Bessie MacNicol: New Woman , A. Tanner 1998, ISBN 978-0953369706
- Jude Burkhauser: Glasgow Girls: Women in Art and Design 1880-1920 , Canongate Books 2001, ISBN 978-1841951515
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | MacNicol, Elizabeth |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | MacNicol, Bessie |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Scottish painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 15, 1869 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Glasgow , Scotland |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 4, 1904 |
| Place of death | Glasgow , Scotland |