November 1895: Glasgow School of Art Club Conversazione – Work by the Misses Macdonald and Messrs Mackintosh and McNair

An article on page four of the Glasgow Evening News (Glasgow Evening Post, in The British Newspaper Archive),

on Saturday the 9th of November, 1895, reads:

 

“SCHOOL OF ART CLUB

CONVERSAZIONE.

 

The guests at the School of Art Club conversazione last night were many,

and included many well-known artists and others. It is common to

bring a charge of morbidity against certain kinds of work associated

with this club, but whatever morbidity there might have been was

strictly confined to the walls, the gathering being mainly composed of

fresh, bright young people who kept up a pleasant hum of talk during

the intervals in the music. Tea, coffee, and cakes were served downstairs

by smart maids—young lady hostesses behind the buffet. Upstairs the

entertainment took the form of music, vocal and instrumental, and the

guests, having been received by Mr Newberry [sic], had an opportunity

of examining the work of their fellow-students and hearing friendly

criticism of their own. Interest specially centred in the hall at the head of

the landing where extraordinary work—especially in metal—of the Misses

Macdonald and Messrs Mackintosh and McNair is exhibited. The Art Club

Exhibition was open to the conversazione guests, and the privilege of seeing

the pictures there was largely taken advantage of.”

 

 

 

The British Newspaper Archive.

 

 

 

George Fairfull-Smith, July 2025.