Charles Rennie Mackintosh:150th anniversary of Glasgow architect and designer to be celebrated

Charles Rennie Mackintosh (7 June 1868 – 10 December 1928) was a Scottish architect, designer, water colourist and artist. He, along with painter and glass artist Margaret MacDonald, Frances MacDonald and Herbert MacNair, known as The Four, were prominent members of the The Glasgow School. This was a circle of influential artists and designers that worked in Glasgow, Scotland in the 1870s until about 1920. Glasgow Style designs and art works were created by teachers, students and graduates of The Glasgow School of Art and The Four were at the core of this movement. The Glasgow Style was noted for its fusion of influences including the Celtic Revival, Japonisme and the Arts and Crafts Movement. They made a major contribution to the international art nouveau movement. Art Nouveau was an international style of art, architecture and applied art, which flourished particularly between 1890 and 1910.

Next year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and plans have been made to celebrate this in Glasgow with an exhibition of previously unseen works. The 2018 programme of events will include an exhibition at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum showcasing works by Mackintosh and his contemporaries. There will be works not displayed for many years, while others will be given their first public appearance. Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his contemporaries who created Glasgow Style, continue to have an influence on the designs seen today. It is fitting that the contribution he made to cultural life in Scotland and one of the most creative figures of the 20th century is celebrated in city of his birth, Glasgow.