Margaret Casson, Lady Casson (26 September 1913 – 12 November 1999) was an architect, designer and photographer, and the wife of the architect

Hugh Casson Sir Hugh Maxwell Casson (23 May 1910 – 15 August 1999) was a British architect. He was also active as an interior designer, as an artist, and as a writer and broadcaster on twentieth-century design. He was the director of architecture for t ...

Life

Margaret Macdonald Troup was born in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

, South Africa, on 26 September 1913. Her father, James MacDonald Troup, was a doctor and later advisor to

Jan Smuts Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, (24 May 1870 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Af ...

; her mother was Alberta, ''née'' Davis. The

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

architect and designer Francis William Troup was her great-uncle. She was educated at

Wychwood School Wychwood School is an independent school for girls aged 11–18, located in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. The school is a member of the Girls' Schools Association and is a registered charity. The school is located on the southern corner of Bar ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, and then attended the

Bartlett School of Architecture Bartlett may refer to: Places * Bartlett Bay, Canada, Arctic waterway * Wharerata, New Zealand, also known as Bartletts United States * Bartlett, Illinois ** Bartlett station, a commuter railroad station * Bartlett, Iowa * Bartlett, Kansas ...

University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, one of few women to do so at that time. She married the architect

on 19 November 1938.

Career

Margaret Casson's first job, from 1937 to 1938, was in the office of the

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

architect

Kit Nicholson Christopher David George "Kit" Nicholson (16 December 1904 – 28 July 1948) was a British architect and designer closely associated with the early Modern Movement in Britain. His most notable works of the 1930s were comparable to the advanc ...

, son of the painter Sir William Nicholson and brother of

Ben Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett or Benson, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben (in he, בֶּן, ''son of'') forms part of Hebrew surnames, e.g. Abraham ben Abraham ( he, � ...

and

Nancy Nicholson Annie "Nancy" Mary Pryde Nicholson (1899–1977) was an English painter and fabric designer. Early life Born Annie Mary Pryde Nicholson, she was the only daughter of the artists Sir William Nicholson and Mabel Pryde. She had three brothers, ar ...

, where Nicholson's wife EQ and his student and protégé Hugh Casson also worked. In 1938 and 1939 she was in private practice in South Africa, but returned to England at the start of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. From 1946–51 she worked as a designer for Cockade Ltd., and in 1952 took up a post as senior tutor at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

, where her husband Hugh was a professor. She remained there until 1974, and in 1980 was made a senior fellow. In 1985 she was made an

honorary fellow Honorary titles (professor, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as well as in m ...

of the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

, where her husband was president. She held advisory posts at several public organisations, among them the

Design Council The Design Council, formerly the Council of Industrial Design, is a United Kingdom charity incorporated by Royal Charter. Its stated mission is "to champion great design that improves lives and makes things better". It was instrumental in the prom ...

from 1967 to 1973, London Transport from 1980 to 1988, and the

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

from 1980 to 1985. Late in life, Margaret Casson experimented with what she called shadow drawings or "sciagrams", photographs made either with or without a camera; some were platinum–palladium prints. These she exhibited under the name Margaret Macdonald in London, in 1994 at the Akehurst Gallery, in 1998 at the City Gallery and in 2000 at the

Fine Art Society The Fine Art Society is a gallery based in both London and in Edinburgh's New Town (originally Bourne Fine Art, established 1978). The New Bond Street, London gallery closed its doors in August 2018 after being occupied by The Fine Art Society si ...

; in Bath, at the

Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is one of the world's oldest photographic societies. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as the Photographic Society of London with ...

; in Japan, at the MIN Gallery, Tokyo; and the United States, at the Forbes Magazine Galleries and at the Bertha Udang Gallery in New York. Margaret Casson died in London on 12 November 1999, less than three months after the death of her husband. The service of thanksgiving already planned for him at St. Paul's Cathedral on 29 November 1999 became a memorial to them both.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Casson, Margaret 1913 births 1999 deaths 20th-century British architects Alumni of The Bartlett British women architects