Designer Biography

James Herbert McNair

Born: 1868

Died: 1955

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McNair studied painting in France before joining the Glasgow office of Honeyman & Keppie in about 1888. In the following year C. R. Mackintosh joined the firm, and both studied at the Glasgow School of Art. Encouraged by the head of the Art School, Francis Newberry and his wife Jessie, Mackintosh and MacNair joined forces with the Macdonald sisters to become a group known as the 'Glasgow Four'. MacNair is credited with being the first to explore the sinuous Art Nouveau style which became the hallmark of the group. In 1895 MacNair established himself as an 'architect and designer' in Glasgow; in 1899, having been appointed to the School of Architecture in Liverpool University, he married Frances Macdonald. He participated in the Vienna Secession Exhibition of 1900 and the Turin Exhibition of 1902. He gave up his post at Liverpool in 1906 and pursued his career as an independent designer until his wife's death in 1921.