A CROWD

A leaf removed from a sketchbook with a drawing on each side rendered in ink and watercolour. One side is densely illustrated and with an array of highly detailed faces of different sizes, displaying many different expressions, hairstyles, fashions and headwear. The reverse side shows three overlapping sketches of an elegantly dressed woman in a floral hat in black and pink, with 'AF 2' written in tiny characters in pencil along the bottom. The sheet measures 13 x 19.5 cm. In very good condition, the drawings bright and crisp, the very edges slightly toned. Uneven edge to the left side. Unframed.

A beautiful and very unique pair of drawings by the Scottish artist Annie French (1872-1965). French attended and later taught at the Glasgow School of Art alongside her contemporaries Margaret and Frances MacDonald and Jessie M. King at a time when Scottish art and design was enjoying a period of particular innovation and renown. The Glasgow School's distinctive collective style helped to shape the aesthetics of the British Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts movements at the turn of the twentieth century and beyond. Provenance: Christies Scotland, 9th April 1981, lot 19; Private collection.