Doves and Dreams is the first exhibition to be devoted to the work of the artist-couple, Frances Macdonald McNair (1873–1921) and J. Herbert McNair (1868–1955). (Surname is also spelt MacNair). Together with Frances’s sister Margaret Macdonald and Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the artists formed the celebrated group, the ‘Glasgow Four’.

This pioneering exhibition will highlight, for the first time, their distinctive and original contribution: McNair, the innovator and inspirational designer and teacher, and Macdonald, an exceptional talent who produced some of the most remarkable symbolist watercolours of the 20 th century in Britain.

The exhibition will include some 100 works from public and private collections in the UK and USA, including watercolours, graphics, furniture, metalwork, textiles and decorative art, some never before seen in public. A highlight will be the first-ever reconstruction of the couple’s greatest achievement as designers, the Lady’s Writing Room, exhibited to acclaim at the Turin International Exhibition of 1902.

Discussion