Das Eigenkleid der Frau

Item author: Anna Muthesius
Item date: 1903
Grant Value: £2,700 from FNL's B. H. Breslauer Fund
Item cost: £3,000
Item date acquired: 2014
Item institution: Glasgow School of Art
Town/City: Glasgow

In 1903 Anna Muthesius published the influential Das Eigenkleid der Frau, regarded as a seminal text in the development of early twentieth-century dress, and particularly associated with the Artistic Dress movement. Artistic Dress describes clothing that was produced for everyday use, designed in accordance with contemporary art principles, intended to challenge fashion and considered a work of art in itself. Emphasis was therefore placed on the rejection of the heavy, restrictive Victorian fashions of the day. The movement was also political in its aims, and part of wider societal moves to liberate women in both the public and private spheres.

The book holds particular importance for the history of GSA. It bears an original Art Nouveau binding designed by artist Frances Macdonald McNair (1874-1921). This comprises black printed letters and Glasgow Style decoration to front, with green ribbons cut-through to the top and bottom of both the front and back boards. Frances Macdonald is an important figure in the history of GSA. Along with her husband James Herbert McNair (1868-1955), her sister Margaret Macdonald (1865-1933), and Margaret’s husband Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928), she was an active member of the so-called ‘Glasgow Four’, who between them developed the Glasgow Style aesthetic that is so connected to the School of Art. All four artists attended lessons in the School. The decorative linear design to the front binding incorporates the stylized rounded female figures and roses that were characteristic of McNair’s work in the early 1900s, particularly her embroideries.

Only two other copies of Das Eigenkleid are held in the UK: at the Victoria & Albert Museum and the National Library of Scotland.

This grant was awarded from FNL's B. H. Breslauer Fund, thanks to the generosity of the President and Officers of the B. H. Breslauer Foundation.