Honesty Mirror

My morning started by meeting a group of ladies from Kensington at Glasgow Airport. Unfortunately the flight was delayed by a lot of private flights in connection with the Ryder Cup.

I had organised a special lunch at Mackintosh Queen's Cross and I then gave an introductory talk on Mackintosh to the group.

We then made our way down to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum for a tour of the Mackintosh Gallery by Alison Brown, Curator, European Decorative Art from 1800. This is Alison giving an explanation of the Honesty mirror. Oh it was so good to use my camera again after three days of using the iphone and ipad at the Ryder Cup.

This mirror, known as the 'Honesty mirror', was designed by Frances Macdonald (1873-1921) around 1896. The respoussé decoration of the frame, made of beaten tin, contains the motifs of human figures and stylized plant forms that characterised Frances Macdonald's early work. The Honesty plant (Hunaria biennis) is the focal point of the frame's subject. Two androgynous human figures flank the frame, their long flowing hair and robes merging into the plant forms themselves. In the upper part of this mirror the two figures hold steady and point to one central honesty seed-pod, framed against the circle of the sun. The image this frame contains is therefore considered to be an honest representation of the person it appears to visually echo. This link to honesty is perhaps a humorous reference to the adage that the mirror never lies.

After our tour of Kelvingrove we made our way over to The Willow Tea Rooms for tea and scones.

Our Mackintosh Tour continues tomorrow.