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charles rennie mackintosh
charles rennie mackintosh (1868 - 1928)
13 Jun 2009
Charles Rennie Mackintosh is synonymous with the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau movement.
He began his working life in Glasgow as an architect and attended evening classes at the Glasgow School of Art. As an architect he went on to win many awards and prestigious prizes.
Mackintosh travelled around Scotland, England and Italy, sketching historic architectural sites nurturing his artistic talents. His early drawing showing what was later to become a lifelong fascination with the relationship between natural and man-made forms. He was particularly influenced by Japanese art and the stylised techniques used in drawing and painting plants and flowers.
The most architecturally outstanding and famous building by Charles Rennie Mackintosh was the Glasgow School of Art, erected between 1897 and 1909. At the time, it was seen as both radically modern and uncompromisingly aesthetic. It was practical, functional and artistic. The dynamic simplicity of its design became a model for many future architectural designs.
furniture design. This is exemplified by the famous Willow Tea Rooms in Glasgow. Here, it was not just the floor, walls, doors and windows that concerned Mackintosh; it was also the importance of the space inside. The Tea Rooms showed how Mackintosh designed a project as a whole, including the furniture, textiles, fittings and ornamentation.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a consummate designer who used architecturally rigid squares and oblongs interwoven by gentle curves and motifs which came to typify the style of the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau movement. He worked in a variety of mediums including: glass, lead, metals, wood, ceramics and textiles designing buildings, furniture, doors, windows, carpets and cutlery.