Millie Frood: Strange Horizons
North Lanarkshire Heritage Centre, Motherwell
3rd February – 6th May, 2024
Free Entry
INTRODUCTION
By Rosie Shackleton, Curator
Millie Frood is a name rarely mentioned when we talk about important Scottish painters. Nevertheless, her style and way with colour should earn her much more recognition.
Born in Motherwell in 1900, Millie Frood lived in North Lanarkshire all her life. She studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1918 to 1922, leaving with a diploma in Painting and Drawing. After her studies, she became a teacher at Bellshill Academy, all while painting and exhibiting her work. Frood was well known in her community and was easily recognised thanks to her distinctive style, often adorned in feather boas and Mod-style boots well into her 60s. To her neighbours, she was known to be a gregarious and generous person by nature, often sharing her creativity with others through tours of her studio.
Frood was active in the post-war art scene in Glasgow and was a founder member of the New Scottish Group who showed together regularly until the late 1940s, often at McClure’s Gallery in Glasgow. Fellow group members included John Duncan Fergusson, Margaret Morris and Louise Annand. Although the group’s activity had wound down by the 1950s, the group still supported each other. In 1958, Frood showed fifty works at Airdrie Library and J. D. Fergusson opened the exhibition at age 84. His presence was noted in a review of the show for the Motherwell Times in which the reviewer seems to award Frood a certain validity through her connection with this “astonishing octogenarian” and “painter of great brilliance and courage.”
Alongside well-known Scottish artists, Millie Frood kept the company of expressionist artists who arrived in Scotland from war-time Europe. Josef Herman and Jankel Adler, for example, were among her circle. With post-war Glasgow becoming a melting pot of Scottish colourism and European expressionism, Millie Frood fitted right in. Her work at its best is a true reflection of this mix of influences.
For those unfamiliar with Frood and her work, and sadly this is perhaps the majority, the first thing to notice is the energy within it. There is always a movement and her lively brush strokes take scenes of Scottish life and transform them into something frantic and unusual. There is always a twist, whether that be the style of her figures, which fellow New Scottish Group member Louise Annand described as angular and before their time, or the use of atypical colours which abstract otherwise recognisable scenes.
In this exhibition we seek to show Millie Frood as an artist in her own right, highlighting her range as an artist and celebrating her life in Motherwell. The selection of works shows her experimentation on the scale between figurative and abstract and oftentimes also the battle between nature and industry which appears in much of her work. There is a particular feature of her scenes of farm life, a topic she returned to regularly. Here she imbues humble scenes of farm work with energy and life, elevating hay turners and harvesters alike, to lofty new heights.
Millie Frood, Turning Hay, Oil on canvas, 1940, 74 x 101cm, collection of North Lanarkshire Council (1996-654).
Turning Hay elevates Scottish rural life to new heights. Frood’s use of bold colours and swirling brushstrokes breathes life into the humble task of two farmers working in a field. In a review of Frood’s work at Airdrie Library in 1958, a critic was taken with the ‘fury’ with which these hay turners are working. They went on to say that they were surprised the gallery wasn’t ‘knee-deep in agricultural produce’. This certainly rings true of the energy Frood instilled in the scene. Here, farm workers strive towards abundance, offering us a cornucopia, not merely bales of hay. Frood’s use of golden yellows further elevates the work; the hay appears as golden thread, being woven by the two hay turners. Everything is swept up in a cyclical movement of golden hues and furious labour. Turning Hay was displayed in Airdrie Library in 1958 and Cyril Gerber Fine Art in 1989 before entering our collection in 1996.
Millie Frood, On the Farm, oil on canvas, date unknown, 104 x 135cm, collection of North Lanarkshire Council (1996-655).
On the Farm brings together bright, unusual colours and sharp, industrial shapes, presenting a new image of Scottish farm life. It is a drastic contrast to her more traditional farming scenes of workers in fields. Here, the human element is removed; farm work has become mechanical and otherworldly. On the edges of the canvas, natural flowing lines, perhaps ploughed fields, battle with angular forms, perhaps farm machinery, in a clash between nature and industry. Industry appears triumphant, bursting out of the centre of the scene.
Millie Frood, Workers in a Field, oil on board, date unknown, 67 x 90cm, The Fleming Collection (FWAF/RF633).
This painting clearly shows how Frood looked outwards for inspiration for her work. You can see the influence of European Expressionists with the vibrant colour and thick brushstrokes which are reminiscent of the likes of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Here Frood suggests a symbiotic relationship between nature and man; three figures appear in the centre left but blending with the piles of hay as Frood uses the same colour palette for both.
Millie Frood, October, gouache on paper, 1946, 64 x 73cm, private collection.
Frood returned frequently to agricultural scenes, but always painted them with a twist. There is no rural bliss in October, but a striking similarity between the two beasts of burdens; the horse dragging the plough and the men working the soil.
Millie Frood, Landscape, mixed media on paper, date unknown, 20 x 28.5cm, private collection.
Here Frood captures the rugged landscape of Scotland. The most striking feature of this work, amidst the rough pastels and loose brushstrokes, is her large signature (M.F.) in the top right of the painting acting as a new mountain range in the scene.
Millie Frood, Farm in Radiant Moonlight, oil on canvas, date unknown, 60.5 x 106.5cm, private collection.
The undulating sky in this work may draw inspiration from Van Gogh’s Starry Night. The bright moonlight emits a sharp, strange light which contrasts the dark colours of the landscape
Millie Frood, Carnival, Oil on canvas, date unknown, 49 x 112cm, private collection.
Carnival is characteristic of Millie Frood’s free style of painting. Here, she uses thick layers of paint against a dark background making the viewer ponder over the lively scene and peculiar shapes.
Millie Frood, Early Winter Morning, oil on canvas, date unknown, 62.5 x 122cm, private collection.
Using cold blues and sharp, geometric black lines to represent the bare trees, Frood creates a striking image of a winter morning. The moonbeams appear as if from a watch tower, making the cold scene oppressive.
Millie Frood, Cherry Pasture, oil on board, date unknown, 44.5 x 54.5cm, private collection.
Cherry Pasture shows hints of German Expressionism in the colour and style. The surreal trees make this rural scene otherworldly and dream-like.
Millie Frood, Skaters, oil on canvas board, date unknown, 70 x 136cm, private collection.
This striking painting has a brilliant visionary quality. The movement of the skaters is echoed by the curving forms of the mountains in the background, with the glow of the moonlight adding luminosity to the scene
Millie Frood, Mechanical Angel, oil on canvas, date unknown, 60 x 106cm, private collection.
Frood’s angel is angular and sharp. Once again she brings in an industrial style to depict something typically soft and light. This angel is decidedly post-war in style and watches over the new, ever-increasingly industrial world. It is reminiscent of Paul Klee’s Angelus Novus who is pushed into the future by horrors of the past.
This is a sample of the paintings in the exhibition at North Lanarkshire Heritage Centre. All images are copyright of the artist’s estate
Thanks to The Fleming Collection, the private collectors and Neha Sayeed
Millie Frood is the subject of the first art-scot Project - an open source research forum aiming to gather information on Frood’s life and work. Click on the Projects tab to see the details and any contributions made to date.
