Charles
Rennie Mackintosh, Glasgow
Whilst
in Glasgow in May 2015 we had a bit of a Charles Rennie Mackintosh day. We visited the Lighthouse, a building
designed by Rennie Mackintosh for the Glasgow Herald and now Scotland's Centre
for Design and Architecture. This was
his first public commission and as well as housing the Design Centre it is an
exhibition space and house a fascinating display about Rennie Mackintosh and his
wife and artist Margaret Macdonald and, as the website says, is the perfect
place to begin a Rennie Mackintosh tour of Glasgow which is what we did. Following our visit to the Lighthouse we
continued along the 'Style Mile' and into Sauchiehall Street and the Willow Tea
Rooms. These were also designed by
Rennie Macktintosh for Glasgow entrepreneur and teas shop queen Miss Kate
Cranston in 1903. The tea shop has been
restored to it's original state and still functions as a tea shop and can be highly
recommended. After an enjoyable lunch we
continued our walk to the Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, where there were more
examples of Mactintosh and MacDonald's work along with that of compatriots from
the same era.
Not
knowing much about Charles Rennie Mackintosh, I found that I liked his
work. His architectural and furniture
designs I find very pleasing and I also like his paintings and also the work of
Margaret MacDonald. In the book Charles
Rennie Mackintosh: Architect, Artist,
Icon by John McKean and Colin Baxter I was interested to read that his work
was both part of the Art Nouveau movement and artistic Modernism. (McKean,
Baxter, 2000, p5)
A
fascinating day.
McKean,
J. and Baxter, C (200)Charles Rennie Mackintosh: Architect,
Artist, Icon. Edinburgh: Lomond Books
The
Lighthouse (2015) The Lighthouse [online]
Available from: http://www.thelighthouse.co.uk/about/about-us [Accessed 9.6.15]
The
Willow Tearooms (2015) The Willow
Tearooms [online] Available from: http://www.willowtearooms.co.uk/
[Accessed 9.6.15]
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