Like Minded Souls: the De Morgans and Macintosh/Macdonald

In husband and wife teams it is usually the wife who is marginalised. This is especially true of Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh as her symbolic decorative panels did not fit with Charles Rennie Mackintosh as a pioneer of austere Modernism. William De Morgan was a potter in the Arts and Crafts Movement, Evelyn a follower of Edward Burne-Jones.

Lecture 1: William De Morgan : our greatest artist potter
Trained at the Royal Academy Schools, De Morgan was fully committed to ceramics by 1872, establishing his pottery in Chelsea. He rediscovered the technique for lusterware.

Lecture 2: Evelyn De Morgan: Pre-Raphaelite Symbolist
Evelyn entered the Slade School of Art in 1873. She moved in artistic circles dedicating herself to Symbolist subjects.

– 30 minute lunch break –

Lecture 3: Charles Rennie Mackintosh: the New Art in Scotland
Schooled in progressive architecture and design at the Glasgow School of Art, Mackintosh strove to create a Gesamtkunstwerk whether it be a café for Miss Cranston or a house for Walter Blackie. Mackintosh’s perfection was unsurprisingly challenging.

Lecture 4: Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh
Through their collaboration, Charles and Margaret created highly original interiors, furniture, and textiles. Mackintosh declared Margaret was his ‘spirit key’ and while he had talent, she had ‘genius’.