Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868 – 1928) was a Scottish architect, designer and artist. He worked alongside his wife Margaret Macdonald and was influential on European design movements such as Art Nouveau and Secessionism. Mackintosh was born in Glasgow and died in London. Like many of his contemporary Art Nouveau architects he was very much an across the board designer. He insisted on designing everything. Buildings, interiors, furniture and even decoration. As elsewhere Art Nouveau architects needed clients with very deep pockets. After World War One there was much less money available for the flamboyance of Art Nouveau.
Around 1892, Mackintosh met fellow artist Margaret Macdonald at the Glasgow School of Art. He and fellow student Herbert MacNair, also an apprentice at architects, Honeyman and Keppie, were introduced to Margaret and her sister Frances MacDonald by the head of the Glasgow School of Art, Francis Henry Newbery, who saw similarities in their work. Margaret and Charles married on 22 August 1900. The couple had no children. MacNair and Frances also married the previous year. The group worked collaboratively and came to be known as “The Four”, and were prominent figures in Glasgow Style art and design.
Hill House. 1904
Hill House was designed and built for Glasgow publisher Walter Blackie. Mackintosh and his wife Margeret worked together on the project resulting in a house with the building, interiors, furnishing and decoration integrated together as their vision.
Glasgow School of Art. 1897-1909
The Renfrew Street building was comissioned by the school’s director Francis Newberry. The architect he chose was Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a former student, who he regarded very highly. It was built in several phases between 1897 and 1909. The building was severely damaged fire in 2014 and almost destroyed by a further fire 2018. Plans are in place to rebuild following Mackintosh’s designs and ideas but have been subject to many delays. The latest estimate for this important building to be restored is 2030. Costs are vague and who is paying is unclear.
Scotland Street School. 1904 – 1906
It is testimony to the wealth of, turn of the century, Glasgow that funds were found to comission Mackintosh to design a new school for the public. Mackintosh designs were not cheap to execute. Scotland Road School can be seen to represent Mackintosh’s more mature work. This was his last major design project.
Furniture
Mackintosh is as famous for his furniture design as for his architecture. The high backed dining chairs designed for Hill House,Ingram Tea Rooms and other venues is perhaps his ‘signature design’. It seems comfort was not a major consideration.
Art
Mackintosh painted before and after his career as an architect. Watercolour was his medium. Early work is very Surrealist, perhaps influenced by Margaret. During and after the First World War he produced naturalist studies, perhaps with an eye to selling them. The last years were dedicated to landscapes in the South of France painted ‘en plein air’.
After completion of the Glasgow School of Art, Mackintosh received no further comissions for significant buildings. Issues with budgets and alcohol apparently made him difficult to work with. In 1914 he leaves Honeyman, Keppie and Mackintosh, the architectural practice,and moves with Margaret to Walberswick in Suffolk and completes as series of flower studies. Until shortly before his death in London in 1928 he was living in Port Vendres in the South West of France painting landscapes. Forty watercolours of this period exist. They were never exhibited in his lifetime.
Further Reading. There is a huge ammount of printed material related to Mackintosh as his work. Too much to list here. A search on Ebay is always worthwhile.