Art is the Flower. Life is the Green Leaf.
June 7, 2018 3:03 AM Subscribe
150 years of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. From sci-fi libraries to steampunk tearooms, his dazzling creations made Glasgow a design paradise.
The rooms that inspired Europe
Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Hill House was designed from the inside out
Glasgow School of Art is Charles Rennie Mackintosh's "masterwork"
House for an Art Lover was built 60 years after Charles Rennie Mackintosh's death
V&A Dundee secures funding to rebuild lost Charles Rennie Mackintosh tearoom
Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Argyle Chair was designed for intimate dining
Charles Rennie Mackintosh - A Modern Man 1, 2, 3
Previous
The rooms that inspired Europe
Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Hill House was designed from the inside out
Glasgow School of Art is Charles Rennie Mackintosh's "masterwork"
House for an Art Lover was built 60 years after Charles Rennie Mackintosh's death
V&A Dundee secures funding to rebuild lost Charles Rennie Mackintosh tearoom
Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Argyle Chair was designed for intimate dining
Charles Rennie Mackintosh - A Modern Man 1, 2, 3
Previous
Grew up in Glasgow, so this is all part of the woodwork. CRM's better remembered back home for impracticality: House for an Art Lover was disqualified, rumour has it, not for lack of drawings but because they mailed it too late. And that multi-sided table with the segmented drawers that fall out when you open them? Yeah.
I've worked in the grounds of the Hill House. The building itself leaks like a bastard, so those brutalist designers learned well from the master. The main hall of the House for an Art Lover is stunning and that piano is a remarkably good player for something so ornamental. But the hall was right above the café, so Glasgow being Glasgow, it reeked of chips. The temporary loss of the Glasgow School of Art Library is a blow, though. It's pretty amazing that that tinderbox hadn't gone up before.
Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh deserves waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy more recognition than she gets, though. All those curving designs that are part of the CRM mythos/cliché? They are Margaret's.
posted by scruss at 5:41 AM on June 7, 2018 [6 favorites]
I've worked in the grounds of the Hill House. The building itself leaks like a bastard, so those brutalist designers learned well from the master. The main hall of the House for an Art Lover is stunning and that piano is a remarkably good player for something so ornamental. But the hall was right above the café, so Glasgow being Glasgow, it reeked of chips. The temporary loss of the Glasgow School of Art Library is a blow, though. It's pretty amazing that that tinderbox hadn't gone up before.
Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh deserves waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy more recognition than she gets, though. All those curving designs that are part of the CRM mythos/cliché? They are Margaret's.
posted by scruss at 5:41 AM on June 7, 2018 [6 favorites]
Thank you for posting this.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 7:18 AM on June 7, 2018
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 7:18 AM on June 7, 2018
I LOVE CRM AND MMM AND I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS POST.
posted by Adridne at 7:21 AM on June 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Adridne at 7:21 AM on June 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
A shout out to Collioure in south west France - where Mackintosh and his wife spent some of their final years. There is a "Monsieur Mackintosh" trail in town.
posted by rongorongo at 9:04 AM on June 7, 2018
posted by rongorongo at 9:04 AM on June 7, 2018
We went to Scotland for the first time in 2014, and had this mental image of Glasgow as this rough and tumble industrial city (which it kind of is), but were blown away by the art and architecture once we got there. Both bonehead and I said we should have budgeted to spend more time in Glasgow. The Macintosh museum and library were amazing, as was the walking tour that took us downtown.
Next time we head that way, we're definitely spending more time in Glasgow.
posted by LN at 9:06 AM on June 7, 2018
Next time we head that way, we're definitely spending more time in Glasgow.
posted by LN at 9:06 AM on June 7, 2018
I spent a summer in Glasgow in 2000 and it always felt like this very practical city that didn't quite realize it was built on the bones of a fantasy metropolis.
posted by selfnoise at 9:53 AM on June 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by selfnoise at 9:53 AM on June 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
My last week in Glasgow, I stayed at a hotel near the School of Art that had CRM's furniture and architectural details. I didn't have to do it, but I was glad I did, because I lived nearer to Partick and usually had no reason to linger in the area except maybe my weekends at the movies or errands.
posted by cendawanita at 3:30 PM on June 7, 2018
posted by cendawanita at 3:30 PM on June 7, 2018
A large fire has broken out at the Glasgow School of Art for the second time in four years
from what I'm hearing on Scottish Twitter, the building's effectively destroyed
posted by scruss at 6:44 PM on June 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
from what I'm hearing on Scottish Twitter, the building's effectively destroyed
posted by scruss at 6:44 PM on June 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
yeah, sadly, it looks like it's totally gone now
'Heartbreaking': fire guts Glasgow School of Art for second time
Firefighters tackle blaze at Glasgow School of Art – video
Flames spread through Glasgow School of Art in Scotland – in pictures
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 1:02 AM on June 16, 2018
'Heartbreaking': fire guts Glasgow School of Art for second time
Firefighters tackle blaze at Glasgow School of Art – video
Flames spread through Glasgow School of Art in Scotland – in pictures
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 1:02 AM on June 16, 2018
NYT today has a good roundup of Macintosh sites to visit in Scotland.
posted by of strange foe at 2:51 PM on July 3, 2018
posted by of strange foe at 2:51 PM on July 3, 2018
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posted by selfnoise at 4:25 AM on June 7, 2018