So, who was Charles Rennie Mackintosh?
Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a Scottish architect and furniture designer whose work is recognised across the world — he was a pioneer of modernism, blending Scottish & Japanese influences with Art Nouveau to create his own unique aesthetic. He was credited with a number of designs from textiles to furniture, buildings to ornaments with his most renowned design being that of the Glasgow School of Art.
So where did it all start?
Although it is not clear how he became interested in the arts, what we do know is that once Charles Rennie Mackintosh had decided he wanted to be an architect, he pretty much stuck with it, starting out as an apprentice in the day and studying painting and drawing in the evenings — winning himself several awards in the process. He met his future wife Margaret MacDonald whilst studying at the Glasgow School of Art and it was here that he began to experiment with different media — embroidery, metalwork and he even started to dabble in furniture design.
In 1897 the building of his masterpiece began — Mackintosh designed the new building to house the Glasgow School of Art, encapsulating his signature style of right angles and floral inspired decorative motifs with subtle curves.
It was all going so well…
So Charles had met his soulmate in Margaret McDonald, had finished school with a number of awards to his name and had designed one of the most inspirational modern buildings of the time; he had moved out of his parents house and his studio had become the place to be seen for young artists — what could go wrong?
It was not long until Mackintosh & MacDonald’s more, shall we say divisive work, along with their close colleagues Herbert MacNair and Frances MacDonald (collectively and elusively known as “The Four”) was exhibited in London only to be heavily criticised and thus ending The Four’s working partnership.
Mackintosh became disillusioned with architecture having failed to gain even a shortlisting on the panel for Liverpool Cathedral in 1903, moving between living in Glasgow, London & the Suffolk countryside before returning to London in time for the start of the First World War (during which Mackintosh was arrested under suspicion of being a German spy!). He spent the majority of his life after this in the South of France with Margaret painting watercolours and sketching as opposed to designing any great architectural pieces until his death in 1928.
In retrospect
At the time of Charles’ death, a group of four high backed dining chairs were valued at a minuscule £1 with his entire estate valued at the pitifully low figure of just £88. Fast forward 89 years and just one of Mackintosh’s high backed dining chairs sold for a whopping £362,000 at Sotherby’s in New York — one of the highest prices ever paid for a 20th century dining chair.
Though his later living years were plagued with depression and frustration, not to mention a disappointing lack of success, Mackintosh gained popularity in the decades following his death largely helped when a large collection of his work, including furniture & paintings, was found by Dr Thomas Howarth in a Glaswegian warehouse. Howarth later went on to write a biography of Mackintosh capturing the highs and lows of Charles’ life and helping to solidify him as one of the most important influencers in the Arts & Crafts movement and as one of Glasgow’s leading cultural figureheads.
I’m James Broad, a lover of all things vintage and Co-founder of Intique, a marketplace with personality selling vintage and antique furniture with character.
