Margaret Oliver Brown

Margaret Oliver Brown (née MacDonald) (20 September 1912 – 17 November 1990) was a Scottish painter and illustrator. She worked as a commercial artist before studying painting at Glasgow School of Art (1937–41). She was a founder member of the New Scottish Group.

Personal life

Margaret Oliver Brown was born in Glasgow on 20 September 1912. Her father was a marine engineer from North Uist and her mother was from Fife. Brown was brought up in Pollokshields in Glasgow, with her two brothers, Ian and Alex. She attended the Scotland Street School, which was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in the early 1900s.

On 4 August 1936 she married William Oliver Brown, a French teacher who was a well known political activist and Scottish nationalist. They had two children: Catriona (b.1944) and Una (b.1948). After her husband's death in 1976, Brown moved to sheltered accommodation in 1980. She moved to Norwich in 1987, to live with her daughter Una. She died on 17 November 1990. She was a particular friend of other members Louise Annand, Millie Frood, Margaret Morris, Jankel Adler, Josef Herman and George Hannah. Throughout the 1940s she exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy, Royal Glasgow Institute and the Society of Independent Scottish Artists, as well as with the New Scottish Group. Oliver Brown, 1902 - 1976. Founder member of the Scottish National Party, c.1940 (Scottish National Portrait Gallery, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland) Self Portrait, late 1930s/early 1940s (Scottish National Portrait Gallery, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland) Chrysanthemums, c.1945 (Perth & Kinross Council, Scotland) Suspicion, c.1945 (Perth & Kinross Council, Scotland) Female Portrait (Glasgow School of Art, Scotland) Male Portrait (Glasgow School of Art, Scotland)