Very little is known about Millie Frood and we invite art-scot readers to join with attendees of the exhibition to help to generate a more extensive knowledge of the artist and her artworks.

We would welcome any contribution you think relevant, but especially photographs of her work, photographs of her, and all information that will enable an archive to be created. Please send material to editor@art-scot.com - we will credit everyone who is happy to be credited, and recognise that some contributors may wish to remain anonymous.

The information we gather will be shared with North Lanarkshire Council, and will be stored in a publicly accessible form.

CONTRIBUTIONS:

1. TD (13.4.24) writes: “Millie Frood was the daughter of John Frood, Provost of Motherwell 1919-22, and a Councillor from 1900 until his death on October 27, 1922. At the time of his death he was Managing Director of the New Malleable Iron Works in the town. Frood Street in Motherwell is named after ex-Provost Frood. He was married with two sons and a daughter. His daughter, Amelia, also sometimes known as Nellie, attended Dalziel High School, and excelled at music (piano playing) as well as drawing.”

2. Roger Spence (16.4.24) writes: “Can I suggest we widen the research brief to include the formation and early activities of the New Art Club, of whom Millie Frood was a Founder Member? My understanding is that their meetings and exhibitions commenced in December 1940, but they were still debating the Constitution on 18th August 1941 - see picture below.”

3. J.Mackay (16.4.24) writes: “There may be a question about the caption to the October picture in the Exhibition section. A painting, 17 x 22 1/2 inches, was exhibited at the 4th New Scottish Group Exhibition in May 1946 as “October”. According to the catalogue for the Scottish Arts Council Gallery Exhibition of September 1968, this has “M. Frood 1945” inscribed on the back. The dimensions are different, but if it is the same picture, the date is probably 1945. One to check with the Private Collector?”

4. Rosie Shackleton (29.4.24) adds:

Amelia Frood was born on the 27th of August 1900 to Jessie and John Frood. Her birth certificate, which is available on Scotlands People, states John Frood as being a ‘Hatter and Hosier’ but he did go on to become the Provost of Motherwell. She began studying at Glasgow School of Art in 1918 and graduated in 1922 with a Diploma in Painting and Drawing. The document showing her name on the graduation list is available through the Glasgow School of Art Archives. At some point after she taught at Bellshill Academy but have yet to find concrete dates for this. She lived in Motherwell all her life, in the same house on Orchard Street in Motherwell. She lived there with her mother until her mother passed away, and then continued to live there alone, with help from a housekeeper, until 1988 when she passed away.

I have been advised from a collector, who at this stage wants to remain anonymous, that she focussed on figurative, more recognisable farm scenes in the 1940s and then gradually got more abstract as she got older. This might help us to place works on more of a timeline, showing how her style changed. Many works are undated, so hopefully this information might help with a form of chronology.

She had work displayed at the Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition in 1938 showing the works ‘Girl with Handkerchief’ and ‘Paeony Roses’ (We know from the people who now live in her house, that she grew paeony roses in her garden, which are still growing there today), and in 1940 showing the work ‘Young Colt’. This information is available through the RSA archives.

We got some information from a relative of other works by her which were named: ‘Escape’, ‘Embroidering’, ‘Italian Café’, dated 1952, ‘Seascape with Rising Sun’, “A still life with Poppies’, and ‘Haybales’.   

We were told by neighbours, that she hosted regular Italian classes in her living room. We recently had a visitor to the in-person exhibition at the Motherwell Heritage Centre whose father went to her classes, confirming this. There was some debate about whether she actually travelled to Italy herself or just learned Italian through private study.