Painter, cartoonist and commercial artist, Mahdi McCrae was the second of the three daughters of the poet Hugh McCrae (q.v.) and his first wife, Annie Geraldine (Nancy) Adams.
Taught to draw by 'her father's lifelong friend', Norman Lindsay (q.v.), McCrae first 'worked as a fashion illustrator...drawing advertisements for Farmers department store'. Noted for producing 'fashion-conscious cartoons of brittle socialites', McCrae possessed a discerning eye with many of her illustrations standing as a perceptive critique of Sydney society.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s her work was reproduced in numerous magazines and journals including Woman, Melbourne Punch, Aussie, Smith's Weekly and the Bulletin. During this period, McCrae also 'contributed stylish drawings' to Sydney Ure Smith's noted journal The Home: An Australian Quarterly; her illustrations appeared regularly on this publication's social page, 'Sydney S'Amuse'.
Mahdi McCrae was the great granddaughter of
Georgiana Huntly McCrae , and the poet
Dorothy Frances McCrae was her aunt (qq.v.).
(Source: Dictionary of Australian Artists Online)
