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Artists

Jessie M. King

If All the Carts were Painted Gay

Period:
20th Century
Description:

Jessie M. King was primarily a book illustrator in the Scottish art nouveau movement or 'Glasgow Style'. A graduate of Glasgow School of Art, success came early in her career with commissions from Scottish and German publishers. This success enabled her to purchase a property in Kirkcudbright High Street in 1909 which she renamed Greengate. It was intended as a 'bolt-hole' from Glasgow. However, by 1911, she and her husband E.A.Taylor were teaching in Paris, and might well have stayed there had it not been for the outbreak of the First World War, which prompted them to return to Kirkcudbright. They had intended it as a temporary move yet the toen became their home for the rest of their lives. They had a profound influence in attracting a younger generation of artists from Glasgow and Edinburgh to the town, thereby regenerating its vigour as an artistic centre.

 

Jessie M. King continued her illustration work, including illustration of verse, such as this work for John Drinkwater's poem 'Holiness'. However, commissions were not so plentiful after the First World War and this prompted her to turn to other crafts including jewellery and batik fabric design, and painted ceramics.

Materials/Media:
pen, ink & colourwash on paper
Dimensions:
340mm x 480mm
Source:
The Stewartry Museum
Digital Number:
SWFA039n
Creation Date:
c1930
Copyright:
Dumfries & Galloway Council