Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Not so long ago, the furniture of Glasgow-born architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) was broken up for firewood. Today his major bookcases and chairs go for hundreds of thousands of pounds at auction, art books are devoted to his astonishingly elegant Arts and Crafts interiors, and artisans around the world look to his theory that "decoration should not be constructed, rather construction should be decorated" as holy law. Mackintosh's stripped-down designs slammed the door on Victorian antimacassars and floral chintz, ushering in the modern age with their deceptively stark style. Ironically, Scotland's most innovative designer had an extensive influence on European design, but failed to receive recognition as a true original in his native country until well after his death.

Mackintosh trained in architecture at the Glasgow School of Art and was apprenticed to the Glasgow firm of John Hutchison at the age of 16. Early influences on his work included the Pre-Raphaelites, James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Aubrey Beardsley (1872-98), and Japanese art, but by the 1890s a distinct Glasgow style had been developed by Mackintosh and others. The building for the Glasgow Herald newspaper, which he designed in 1893 and which is now the Lighthouse Centre for Architecture, Design and the City, was soon followed by other major Glasgow buildings: Queen Margaret's Medical College; the Martyrs Public School; tearooms for Catherine Cranston, including the famous Willow Tearoom; the Hill House, Helensburgh, now owned by the National Trust for Scotland; and Queen's Cross Church, completed in 1899 and now the headquarters of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society. In 1897 Mackintosh began work on a new home for the Glasgow School of Art, recognized as one of his major achievements.

Mackintosh married Margaret Macdonald in 1900, and in later years her decorative work enhanced the interiors of his buildings. Over the next few years he worked abroad as well as in Scotland, being especially successful in Germany and Austria. In 1904 he became a partner in Honeyman and Keppie and designed Scotland Street School, now the Museum of Education, in the same year. Until 1913, when he left Honeyman and Keppie and moved to England, Mackintosh's projects included buildings and/or interiors over much of Scotland, but especially in the Central Belt: Comrie, Bridge of Allan, Kilmacolm, and many other places. He preferred whenever possible to include interiors—furniture and fittings—as part of his overall design.

Commissions in England after 1913 included a variety of design challenges not confined to buildings, including fabrics, furniture, and even bookbindings. In 1923 Mackintosh settled in France, but he returned to London in 1927 and died there in 1928.

Glasgow is the best place in the world to admire Mackintosh's work: in addition to the buildings mentioned above, most of which can be visited, the Hunterian Art Gallery contains magnificent reconstructions of the principal rooms at 78 Southpark Avenue, Mackintosh's Glasgow home, and original drawings, documents, and records, plus the re-creation of a room at 78 Derngate, Northampton. During 2006, the Glasgow Mackintosh Festival 2006 (www.glasgowmackintosh2006.com) will celebrate his legacy.

To take it all in, purchase a £12 Mackintosh Trail Ticket at major sites, visitor centers, or online from the Mackintosh Society (www.crmsociety.com). It includes transportation and one-day admission to many sites.