Ada Jane Macnab (1889–1980) known as Chica Macnab, and later as Ada Munro, was a Scottish artist notable as a wood-engraver and painter.

Biography

Macnab was born in the Philippines in the province of

Iloilo Iloilo ( ; ), officially the Province of Iloilo (; ; ; ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital and largest city is Iloilo City, the regional center of Western Visayas and politically independen ...

where her Scottish parents were based while her father worked for the

Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

. When the family returned to Scotland, Macnab was educated at

Kilmacolm Kilmacolm () is a village and Civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish in the Inverclyde council area, and the Counties of Scotland, historic county of Renfrewshire (historic), Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies on th ...

before studying at the

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; ) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and design. These are all awa ...

from 1922 to 1925. She became a founding member of the Glasgow-based Society of Artist Printers and as soon as she graduated, the Glasgow School employed Macnab to establish and run a class on lithography and colour block printing. Macnab only taught the class for a year, during 1926 and 1927, but her students included Alison Mackenzie. She remained in Glasgow and joined the

Glasgow Society of Lady Artists The Glasgow Society of Lady Artists was founded in 1882 by eight female students of the Glasgow School of Art with the aim of affording due recognition to women in the field of art. It has been described by Jude Burkhauser as "the first residenti ...

. In 1927 Macnab married James Munro, a chemist, and after she started to raise a family appears to have put her artistic career on hold. After 1967 she returned to painting and exhibited several oil paintings as Ada Munro. Her brother was also an artist, the painter and printmaker

Iain Macnab Iain Macnab of Barachastlain (21 October 1890 – 24 December 1967) was a Scottish wood-engraver and painter. As a prominent teacher he was influential in the development of the British school of wood-engraving. His pictures are noted for c ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macnab, Chica 1889 births 1980 deaths 20th-century British engravers 20th-century Scottish painters Academics of the Glasgow School of Art Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art Artists from Glasgow Artists from Iloilo Scottish wood engravers Sibling artists British women engravers British expatriates in the Philippines Glasgow Society of Women Artists member 20th-century Scottish women painters