Annie French

Annie French (6 February 1872 – 27 January 1965) was a Scottish painter, engraver, illustrator, and designer associated with the Glasgow School.

Annie French
Born	(1872-02-06)6 February 1872 Govan, United Kingdom
Died	27 January 1965(1965-01-27) (aged 92) Saint Helier, Jersey
Nationality	British
Known for	Painting, Illustration, Design
Movement	Art Nouveau
Spouse	George Woolliscroft Rhead ​ ​ (m. 1914⁠–⁠1920)​

Biography

French was a student of Jean Delville and Fra Newbery at the Glasgow School of Art from 1896 to 1902.^[1][2] She shared a studio with artist Bessie Young and fellow Glasgow School painter Jane Younger from 1906 to 1914.^[1][3] She returned to the Glasgow School to teach ceramic decoration from 1909 to 1912.^[1][2] She published books of black and white illustration in the style of Beardsley. The Picture Book and The Plumed Hat were republished in elite art publications in 1906 and 1900 respectively.^[4] French was married to painter, engraver, and illustrator George Woolliscroft Rhead from 1914 until his death in 1920.^[1][5] She died at St Helier on the island of Jersey on 25 January 1965.^[4]

Art

As a member of a group of designers and artists known as the Glasgow Girls,^[6] French was best known for black-and-white illustrations in the Art Nouveau style.^[2][7] Her influences included Aubrey Beardsley,^[8] Jessie M. King,^[9] and Charles Rennie Mackintosh.^[6]

French's work was exhibited at the Royal Academy and published in The Studio.^[2]

Gallery

• 
  The Garland, published in The Studio vol 38, 1906
• 
  Illustration for The Ballad of the Banish’t Man, displayed at 1902 exhibition of the Glasgow School of Art, and published in The Studio.
• 
  Illustration of “Summer Time” from The Studio

References

1. Gray, Sara (2009). French, Annie. Casemate Publishers. pp. 110–111. ISBN 9780718830847. Retrieved 30 December 2015. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
2. French, Annie. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. 21 June 2012. pp. 419–420. ISBN 9780199923052. Retrieved 30 December 2015. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
3. Franchini, Caterina (2015). "Women's Creativity at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art (Turin, 1902)". Res Mobilis. 4 (4). Oviedo University Press: 59–60. doi:10.17811/rm.4.2015.51-68. ISSN 2255-2057. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
4. Ailsa Tanner, ‘Glasgow Girls (act. 1880–1920)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2010 accessed 17 April 2017
5. Rhead, George Woolliscroft. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. 21 June 2012. p. 264. ISBN 9780199923052. Retrieved 30 December 2015. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
6. Billcliffe, Roger (April 1991). "A Brush With Europe: Visual Art in Glasgow 1890–1990". RSA Journal. 139 (5417): 334. JSTOR 41375520. In a series of rooms designed by Mackintosh, the Four and their many Glasgow colleagues created a display which was unequalled by any other contributing country. Jessie King, E.A. Taylor, George Logan, Annie French, Ann Macbeth, De Courcy Lewthwaite Dewar, John Ednie, Jessie Newbery and a host of other talented Glasgow designers and craftsmen and women rightfully claimed the limelight.
7. Hardie, William (2010). Scottish Painting: 1837 to the present. Waverley Books. p. 121. ISBN 9781849340359.
8. Murdoch, W.G. Blaikie (December 1917). "British Illustrators". The American Magazine of Art. 9 (2): 54. JSTOR 23935248. And it is [Aubrey Beardsley's] work in this lapidarian manner which has proved influential to Miss Jessie King and to Miss Annie French, whose craftsmanship, in various of her little pictures for old ballads, has a charm making every particle claim microscopic study.
9. "Some Lesser Arts in London". The Guardian. 28 November 1904. p. 5. Retrieved 4 April 2019 – via newspapers.com.

External links

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• The Annie French Collection - collection of business papers of Annie French
• 1 artwork by or after Annie French at the Art UK site