Glasgow Girl Ann Macbeth's rare collar acquired for city collection

It is a detachable dress collar in silk and cotton embroidered with a Glasgow Style appliqué rose and leaf design which has survived remarkably well considering the 120-year-old piece was discovered in a box of fabric found at a Glasgow market.

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With the help of the National Fund for Acquisitions, it was purchased for £9500.

The Herald was given a rare preview of the Macbeth collar, which she is believed to have designed between 1901 and 1902. We were among a privileged few to see the collar which in the interests of conservation cannot be put on permanent display to prevent further light damage to the colour and silk.

Curator Alison Brown looks carefully at the Ann Macbeth piece. Picture Colin Mearns. (Image: Newsquest)

Artist and activist, Macbeth taught at Glasgow School of Art and changed the needlework was taught in schools for decades. She continued to uphold her tutor Jessie Newbery’s views and encouraged students to explore women’s fashion and artistic dress.

On Tuesday February 28 a group of enthusiasts have been invited to attend a private viewing at the Glasgow Museum Resource Centre - a treasure trove of pieces in the Glasgow Museums collection in the city's south side.

Ann Macbeth was an innovator at Glasgow School of Art (Image: Newsquest)

Alison Brown, Curator, European Decorative Art and Design from 1800 to present with Glasgow Life Museums, said: "This purchase at auction was a rare opportunity to add an important, embroidered article of Glasgow Style clothing designed, made and worn by Ann Macbeth to our civic collections.

"It is a gorgeously embroidered piece which is a ¾ circular detached collar constructed from three layers of fabric: a top blue/grey silk, a cream cotton interlining, and an ivory white silk lining. The surface is almost fully covered with an embroidered and appliqué design worked in coloured silk threads and fabrics utilising a variant of the Glasgow rose and the arrangement of its leaves as the main motifs, framed by simple geometric borders and around the neckline another Glasgow Style motif: the divided heart."

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Ms Brown says it is a massively important acquisition for the Glasgow Girls collection.

"We have pieces of Macbeth's but nothing that she had worn," added Ms Brown. "She was an innovator, a teacher and someone who wanted to change the way needlework was viewed. She took it from a craft to a national art. To see the skill and needlework close up with this piece is quite amazing. There are remarkable patterns, the Glasgow Style roses, with small colourful hearts. While it might have faded from its original blue colour you can pick out the Glasgow Style colours.

"I think we have done her proud by acquiring this piece and being able to tell her story. She was someone who was said to have an inspiring and magnetic personality and I would love to have met her."

The stitches and embroidery methods utilised are the most popular of the Glasgow Style: satin stitch and laid couched stitch; promoted by Macbeth for their ease and speed of filling in the colour on a design. In places her pencil markings on the blue-grey silk are visible, showing how she either cut the appliqué petals short of their guidelines or changed her mind about how filling parts of the design would work.

A rare viewing of the Ann Macbeth collar will be held on Tuesday, February 28. Picture Colin Mearns. (Image: Newsquest)

Remarkably all of this she achieved with the sight of only one eye after experiencing scarlet fever as a child.

Macbeth was pictured wearing a collar of this design in the well-known black and white studio portrait of her. A photograph of this collar is reproduced in The Studio of 1908. Her studio portrait photo would appear to show her setting her identity as one of the progressive young designers and teachers championing the new Glasgow Style emerging from the GSA studios.

Hazel Williamson, National Fund for Acquisitions Manager, said: “We are delighted to support the purchase of this rare needlework collar by Ann Macbeth which extends and amplifies Glasgow Museums’ collection of work by this internationally recognised artist and inspirational teacher. Ann’s active role as a suffragette will also help to tell the wider story of the women’s suffrage movement in Scotland.”

Lyon & Turnbull director and design specialist, John Mackie, said they were delighted it had been purchased by Glasgow Life.

"It is an exciting discovery as well as a significant piece of history from this rich seam of Glasgow’s cultural history and will be a wonderful addition to an already marvellous collection," he said.

Not only was she Macbeth inspiring artist, she was also a teacher and women’s rights activist, which led to her being imprisoned for her militant action.

As a suffragette, she designed the banner for the 1908 Edinburgh march of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies.

The next viewing session for Glasgow Style embroideries in Glasgow Museums’ collection will be held on Tuesday, April 25, at Glasgow Museums Resource Centre. To book a place email GMRCBookings@glasgowlife.org.uk