Merry Christmas! A History of GSA Christmas Cards: Exhibition Companion

Untitled Christmas Card, c1990 by Conrad McKenna, GSA Archives and Collections (archive reference: DC073/1/1)
Untitled Christmas Card, c1990 by Conrad McKenna, GSA Archives and Collections (archive reference: DC073/1/1)

The Glasgow School of Art staff and students have celebrated Christmas since the School’s opening by producing Christmas balls, theatre productions, fairs and beautifully illustrated cards to send to one another. In this exhibition the GSA Archives and Collections presents a selection of these materials including photographs, ephemera and cards made by GSA staff and students spanning over 100 years of the School’s history.

The earliest design for a Christmas card shown here dates from the 1890s and is by student John Quinton Pringle. The records on display also reveal the work that students and staff put in as part of a close-knit community to produce balls, productions and fairs alongside their School work. Some of the items also show the impact of external factors on the School including the First and Second World War and how students both incorporated this into their work and looked to contribute their skills to the war effort.

Many of the Christmas cards on display today were deposited in our collections by notable GSA alumni and staff including Daisy McGlashan, Kath Whyte and Conrad McKenna, and show off the talents of the individuals who make up GSA’s history.

This exhibition companion provides a list of the items on display and where possible links to further information about the creators represented.

 

The cards inside the frames are listed left to right, top to bottom.

Frame 1

DC073/1/01 – Untitled, c1990 by Conrad McKenna
DC073/1/33 – Best wishes for Christmas and New year, c1970s by Gordon F Huntly
DC073/1/32 – Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, c1970s by Gordon F Huntly
DC073/1/35 – Merry Christmas, c1960s-1970s by Gordon F Huntly

Frame 2

DC029/5/2/3 – Odds Bods, c1960s (side one) by Gordon F Huntly
DC073/1/36 – Odds Bods, c1960s (side two) by Gordon F Huntly

Frame 3

DC073/1/40 – Best wishes for Christmas and New Year, 1985 by James Cosgrove
DC073/1/41 – With Best Wishes, Christmas, 1986 by James Cosgrove

Frame 4

DC029/5/2/3 – Two Christmas card from Margaret and Kit Grant, by Kit Grant

Frame 5

DC073/1/06 – Untitled, 1957 by Mark Severin
DC073/1/09 – Untitled Christmas card, 1960 by Mark Severin
DC073/1/69 – The Flemings Ship, 1982 by John B Fleming

Frame 6

DC073/1/34 – Greetings and good health, c1960s by Gordon F Huntly
DC073/1/17- Seasons Greetings, c1950s by Gordon F Huntly
DC073/1/15- With very best wishes, c1950s by Gordon F Huntly

Frame 7
DC 073/1/18 – A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, c1950s by Gordon F Huntly
DC 073/1/30 – Christmas and new year greetings, c1970s by Gordon F Huntly
DC073/1/16 – For unto you is born this day in the city of David a saviour which is Christ the Lord, c1950s by Gordon F Huntly
DC 073/1/31 – With very best wishes for Christmas and new year, c1970s by Gordon F Huntly

Frame 8

DC073/1/63 – Untitled Christmas Card, 2013 by Rosalind Bliss
DC073/1/25 – Untitled Christmas Card, c2000s by Rosalind Bliss
DC073/1/24 – Dreaming, 1999 by Rosalind Bliss
DC073/1/27 – Ornamental Robin, c2000s by Rosalind Bliss

Frame 9 

DC029/5/2/3 – Three Christmas card from Margaret and Kit Grant, by Kit Grant

Frame 10

DC073/1/5 – At Christmas there is no class distinction, c1950s by Mark Severin
DC073/1/37 – The Severin Family 1958 toast and wish trust to all their friends, 1957
DC073/1/38 – Untitled, c1950s by Mark Severin
DC073/1/8 – Hope many a smile will come your way, c1960s by Mark Severin

Vitrine 1

1. NMC/044 – Design for a Christmas Card, 1890 by John Quinton Pringle

2. NMC/160 – Design for Christmas cards, 1941 by Frederick Selby

3. NMC/164 – Christmas card, c1940s by Frederick Selby

4. NMC/165 – Christmas card, c1940s by Frederick Selby

5. GSAA/P/1/201 – GSA Christmas preparations for the annual ball and masque with the ‘Inferno’ decorative theme, 1936

6. GSAA/P/1/990 – Christmas ball – “Panto Plantaginate” 1952

7. GSAA/P/1/991 – GSA Christmas Ball, not dated

8. DC/29/5/2/3- Kath Whyte Christmas Cards (‘Noel’ by Gordon F Huntly)

9. DC/29/5/2/3 – Kath Whyte Christmas Cards (‘Reflection of a moon’ by Robert Stewart)

10. DC/29/5/2/3 – Kath Whyte Christmas Cards (‘Noel’ by Kit and Margaret Grant)

12. DC/22/3/1 – Christmas Card, 1914 by Daisy Agnes McGlashan

13. DC/22/3/1 – Christmas Card, 1914 inside poem, by Daisy Agnes McGlashan

14. NMC/221A – Design for a New Year’s Card, 1942 by Frederick Selby

15. NMC/218 – Christmas Card, 1941 by Frederick Selby

16. DC/29/5/2/3- Kath Whyte Christmas Cards (Angel, Christmas 1951)

17. DC/29/5/2/3 – Kath Whyte Christmas Cards

18. GSAA/EPH/1 – Glasgow School of Art Ephemera 1926-1948, flyer for the GSA Christmas Masque and Ball with the theme of decoration ‘Inferno’

19. GSAA/EPH/1 – Glasgow School of Art Ephemera late 19th century, ticket of admission to the Christmas Shakesperian Festival December 23rd

20. DC073/42 – Flyer for ‘Glasgow School of Art presents a Christmas Ball’, c1960s

21. DC073/43 – Flyer for ‘The Glasgow School of Art presents a Christmas Ball: Elizabethan’, 1952

22. DC/68/2/2 – Sylvia Chalmer’s ‘General Knowledge’ notebook

23. DC/29/5/2/3 – Kath Whyte Christmas Cards (‘Merry Christmas 1983’ by Ted and Elizabeth Odling)

24. DC/29/5/2/3 – Kath Whyte Christmas Cards (Card from Kath Whyte designed by Gordon Huntly)

25. DC/29/5/2/3 – Kath Whyte Christmas Cards (‘Gloria’ by Robert Stewart)

26. NMC/1300A – Craigforth bookplate, c1910s-1930s by Archibald Haswell Miller

27. NMC/1300C – Craigforth Christmas Card, designed 1913 but annotated in 1947 by Archibald Haswell Miller

28. NMC/1142 – Christmas card 1925 by Josephine Haswell Miller

29. NMC/1144 – Madonna and Child, 1928 by Josephine Haswell Miller

30. NMC/1145 – Madonna and Child, c1940s-1960s by Josephine Haswell Miller

31. GSAA/EPH/1 – Glasgow School of Art Ephemera 1926-1948, flyer for the GSA Christmas Masque and Ball with the theme of decoration ‘Atlantis’

32. GSAA/P/1/203 – Preparations for Christian Ball, 1944

33. DC/68/2/1 – Christmas Cards by Sylvia Chalmers

34. DC/68/2/1 – Christmas Cards by Sylvia Chalmers

35. DC/29/5/2/3 – Kath Whyte Christmas Cards

36. DC/29/5/2/3- Kath Whyte Christmas Cards (‘From my Garret Window’)

37. DC/29/5/2/3 – Kath Whyte Christmas Cards (Hugh Miller’s Cottage & Miller House, creator unknown)

Vitrine 2

This vitrine contains a selection of Christmas card designs and sketches by GSA alumnus Sylvia Chalmers.