Known as one of the Glasgow Girls, Annie French was born in Glasgow and studied at Glasgow School of Art (GSA), from 1886-89, under the influential teacher Francis Newberry. French excelled as an illustrator and developed an exquisite linear technique. Informed by both Art Nouveau and the Pre-Raphaelites, French’s delicate, patterned style worked well for the illustration of fairy tales and poems. She continued working in this manner throughout her life and taught ceramic decoration at GSA from 1908-12.
A decorative art style popular in Europe and North America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is characterised by stylised flowing lines of all kinds, most notably the distinctive “whiplash” curve, which was used to illustrate many forms including tendrils, plant stems, flames, waves and flowing hair.