Designer(s) of the Month: Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald

Week 2: The Glasgow School of Art

School name plate (above the main entrance). Courtesy of the Glasgow School of Art.

Before I get into my whole discussion about Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art building (also known as the Mackintosh building), I think that it's important to first say something about Margaret Macdonald. It his hard to say exactly what the nature of Macdonald's relationship and collaboration with her husband consisted of, as there is little documentation that survives, but she played a large and important role in the defining and developing both Mackintosh's and the Glasgow styles.[1] According to the Charles Rennie Mackintosh society:

Margaret Macdonald was one of the most gifted and successful women artists in Scotland at the turn of the century. Her output was wide-ranging and included watercolours, graphics, metalwork and textiles. Arguably her greatest achievements were in gesso, a plaster-based medium, which she used to make decorative panels for furniture and interiors.[2]

As the Glasgow School of Art was designed during Mackintosh's time at the architectural firm of Honeyman and Keppie, you will see me exclusively mention Mackintosh's name as the designer associated with this particular week's discussion. This is not to say that Macdonald wasn't a major influence on Mackintosh at this time. Mackintosh himself always said that Macdonald's contribution to their partnership was invaluable, and that while he only had talent, his wife had genius.[3] In 1927, Mackintosh wrote to Macdonald that she was half, if not three-quarters, of the inspiration for his architectural work, and so while, yes, it was Mackintosh that designed this building, Macdonald certainly deserves mention.[4] Over the next few weeks, I promise that we'll get into other projects where Macdonald's influence and designs were directly incorporated, but Mackintosh is our focus for today.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Glasgow School of Art: north elevation (elevation to Renfrew Street) no. 9, 1907. Courtesy of the Hunterian Art Gallery Mackintosh Online Catalogue.

The Glasgow School of Art building is said to be Mackintosh's masterwork.[5] Built from 1897 onwards, it is one of the most well-known buildings in Scotland, utilizing a juxtaposition of elements – materials, forms, light and shadow – and playing with traditional Scottish models of tower-houses and tenement blocks to create an extremely unique-looking structure.[6] The building was constructed in two distinct phases, 1897-99 and 1907-09, due to a lack of money.[7]

A. Hunt, Exterior Glasgow School of Art, 1980. Courtesy of RIBA British Architectural Library Photographs Collection and the Royal Institute of British Architects.

The Royal Institute of British Architects describes the facade of this famous building quite eloquently, stating:

Asymmetry is the principal means used to enliven the facade. The position of the doors ground the towers, which jostle between themselves, the left tower rising higher. These, like much of the facade, are constituted of flat, thickly coursed sandstone. Decoration is limited. Only around the door, where the balcony, bay windows and deep rounded pediment emerge, is the wall’s might challenged. These heavy elements contrast to the more delicate iron fixtures. The fenestration’s simple, repetitive glass grids allow light to stream into the building. The other iron work is remarkably original: reliant on a tension between plain geometric shapes and organic leaf and flower motifs, their shadows dance across the facade.[8]

Nice, right? Well, wait until you get the interiors, especially the library.

H. Snoek, Library interior, Glasgow School of Art, 1970. Courtesy of RIBA British Architectural Library Photographs Collection and the Royal Institute of British Architects.

As I mentioned last week, Mackintosh wasn't merely an architect or designer or artist. He believed, above all, in the idea of "seemliness," and conceived every detail of a project in relation to the whole.[9] Most dramatic of all the interiors at the Glasgow School was the new Library, completed in 1909, which was a "complex space of timber posts and beams whose construction owed much to traditional Japanese domestic interiors but ultimately the building was an eclectic mix of styles and influences."[10] Mackintosh manipulates space and light in such a way that the room's scale appears to be much larger than it actually is, with the space seeming both wider and taller than its two storeys.[11]

While the library is the most famous of the Glasgow School of Art's rooms, Mackintosh took just as much care and attention to detail in all of the spaces in this building, some of which I've shown below. These give you a better idea not only of the concept of seemliness that Mackintosh strove for in his designs, but also some of the very distinct-looking Glasgow Style details of his work, in everything from the light fixtures, wrought iron railings, carved decorative features, and even on down to the lettering on signs.

Decorative symbol on the wrought iron railings. Courtesy of the Glasgow School of Art.

Decorative carved column, new Board Room. Courtesy of the Glasgow School of Art.

Lights in the Mackintosh Room (formerly the Board Room). Courtesy of the Glasgow School of Art.

Detail of decorative door plate. Courtesy of the Glasgow School of Art.

Next week we'll look at one of Mackintosh and Macdonald's domestic projects, The Hill House.

[1] Charles Rennie Macintosh Society online, "Margaret Macdonald," http://www.crmsociety.com/default.aspx (accessed December 8, 2009).

[2] Ibid.

[3] Elizabeth Wilhide, "Life and Work," The Mackintosh Style: Design and Decor (San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 1995), 22.

[4] Charles Rennie Macintosh Society online, "Frequently Asked Questions," http://www.crmsociety.com/testfaq1.aspx#faq8 (accessed December 8, 2009).

[5] Charles Rennie Macintosh Society online, "Charles Rennie Mackintosh," http://www.crmsociety.com/crmackintosh.aspx (accessed December 8, 2009).

[6] The Royal Institute of British Architects online, "Charles Rennie Mackintosh: Exterior Glasgow School of Art," How We Built Britain, http://www.architecture.com/HowWeBuiltBritain/HistoricalPeriods/Scottish/CharlesRennieMackintosh/GlasgowSchoolOfArt-Exterior.aspx (Accessed December 8, 2009).

[7] Charles Rennie Macintosh Society online, "Charles Rennie Mackintosh," http://www.crmsociety.com/crmackintosh.aspx (accessed December 8, 2009).

[8] The Royal Institute of British Architects online, "Charles Rennie Mackintosh: Exterior Glasgow School of Art," How We Built Britain, http://www.architecture.com/HowWeBuiltBritain/HistoricalPeriods/Scottish/CharlesRennieMackintosh/GlasgowSchoolOfArt-Exterior.aspx (Accessed December 8, 2009).

[9] Elizabeth Wilhide, "The Art of Space," The Mackintosh Style: Design and Decor (San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 1995), 63.

[10] Charles Rennie Macintosh Society online, "Charles Rennie Mackintosh," http://www.crmsociety.com/crmackintosh.aspx (accessed December 8, 2009).

[11] The Royal Institute of British Architects online, "Charles Rennie Mackintosh: Library interior, Glasgow School of Art," How We Built Britain, http://www.architecture.com/HowWeBuiltBritain/HistoricalPeriods/Scottish/CharlesRennieMackintosh/GlasgowSchoolOfArt-LibraryInterior.aspx (Accessed December 8, 2009).