“…an art in which woman is destined to excel.”: Scottish women etchers and their contributions to the Etching Revival & Boom periods, c.1880-1930

MacLeod, Jenny (2026) “…an art in which woman is destined to excel.”: Scottish women etchers and their contributions to the Etching Revival & Boom periods, c.1880-1930. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This thesis investigates the contributions of Scottish women etchers to the Etching Revival and Boom periods (c.1880-1930). In doing so, it demonstrates that there was a more significant number of women in Scotland who engaged in etching during this period than has previously been recognised.
Despite Scotland’s strong printmaking heritage, current scholarship on the Etching Revival and Boom periods is fragmented and focuses on England, America and France. Moreover, within the existing literature there is a distinct lack of focus on women’s contributions at a time when an increasing number of women were training and practising as artists. This thesis is the first to undertake a thorough examination of their output, growing presence within the British print market, and predilections for subject-matter and style. It challenges the narrative that the Scottish contingent should be defined by the spectacular prices of prints by artists such as David Young Cameron, James McBey, David Muirhead Bone and William Strang. Instead, it employs gender as a mode of enquiry into printmaking and expands on previous scholarship on women artists by Janice Helland, Jude Burkhauser and Maria Quirk to offer a new account, that demonstrates the breadth of experiences within the Etching Revival and Boom periods in Scotland, and more broadly, in Britain.
Using previously overlooked archival sources, including records of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers, the Paisley Art Institute, the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts and the Edinburgh Ladies’ Art Club, and institutional records from the Glasgow School of Art and Edinburgh College of Art, the thesis examines how and where original etching was able to flourish in Scotland between 1880 and 1930, as well as how women became proficient in etching. Building on discussions by print scholars Anthony Griffiths, Martha Tedeschi, Celina Fox, Emma Chambers, and Gladys Engel Lang and Kurt Lang, it reveals that there were several layers to the British print market, encompassing the broader commercial publishing sphere to include popular magazines and the department store. These existed alongside the traditional patriarchal art societies and methods of promotion including art periodicals and portfolios.
By showing how women navigated the male-dominated, oversaturated topographical print market to cultivate an audience for their work, this thesis reveals the unique experiences of women etchers and their impact on the visual culture of the Etching Revival and Boom periods.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Supported in part by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities.
• Subjects: D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain; N Fine Arts > NX Arts in general
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > History of Art
• Funder's Name: Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities
• Supervisor's Name: de Montfort, Dr. Patricia and Willsdon, Professor Clare
• Date of Award: 2026
• Embargo Date: 1 June 2027
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2026-86037
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 19 Jun 2026 14:21
• Last Modified: 19 Jun 2026 14:54
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.86037
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/86037