Book plate design for John Edwards: "The Tree of Knowledge"

1896

Not on view

Margaret Macdonald was one of "The Four," men and women who developed an influential variant of Art Nouveau known as "The Glasgow Style." Margaret and her sister Frances met Charles Rennie Mackintosh and James Herbert MacNair at the Glasgow School of Art in the 1890s. After Margaret's 1900 marriage to Mackintosh, she would design decorative elements central to many of his interior designs. When she drew this bookplate In 1896, Margaret was still working in partnership with Frances. The graphite design centers on the elongated form of a nude woman whose hair merges with the tendrils of a fruit-bearing tree. Printed in 1896 as a book plate for John Edwards (a patron about whom nothing is known), the admired image was also published in the "Studio" magazine in 1897 and the Austrian Secession Movement periodical "Ver Sacrum" in 1901.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

References

Title: Book plate design for John Edwards: "The Tree of Knowledge"
Artist: Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (British, Tipton, near Wolverhampton 1864–1933 London)
Date: 1896
Medium: Graphite, pen and ink
Dimensions: Image: 5 11/16 × 4 1/8 in. (14.5 × 10.5 cm)
Sheet: 8 3/8 × 10 9/16 in. (21.3 × 26.9 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Gift of Jacqueline Loewe Fowler, 2020
Object Number: 2021.16.1
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

In the same medium

From the same time and place

Commemorative jug, White-glaze Parian ware porcelain, British — Commemorative jug
British
ca. 1845

Germain-Augustin and Rose de Saint-Aubin, Drawn by Their Uncle, Gabriel de Saint-Aubin French, Brush and gray wash, over black chalk and graphite — Germain-Augustin and Rose de Saint-Aubin, Drawn by Their Uncle
Gabriel de Saint-Aubin
1766

Banjo, Wood, various materials, British — Banjo
British
mid-19th century

Reading the News at the Weavers' Cottage, Adriaen van Ostade Dutch, Pen and brown ink, watercolor, white heightening, over graphite; framing lines in pen and brown ink and gold — Reading the News at the Weavers' Cottage
Adriaen van Ostade
1673

Stroh Violin, George Evans & Co. English, Mahogany and aluminum, British — Stroh Violin
George Evans & Co.
first quarter 20th century

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please contact us using the form below. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.

Send feedback

Content Notice

The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world, and our online collection reflects ongoing work conducted over the course of our more than 150-year history. You may encounter objects or images that may be inappropriate for some viewers or information that may be outdated.