A fresh look at a familiar icon
A new exhibition at The Hunterian is set to challenge the customary view of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, offering a fresh look at this familiar icon.
Mackintosh is celebrated internationally as one of the most creative and individual artists and designers of the early 20th century but his core activity as an architect has been remarkably under-researched.
Mackintosh Architecture is the first major exhibition to be devoted to Mackintosh’s architectural work, featuring over 80 architectural drawings from The Hunterian and collections across the UK. Many have never been exhibited before and are on display alongside specially commissioned film, models and rarely seen archival material.
Challenging the familiar view of Mackintosh as the isolated genius, the exhibition presents the wider context of the practice of Honeyman, Keppie and Mackintosh, introducing the contractors, suppliers and clients who supported the delivery of the buildings and outlining the building process, from initial planning permissions to final inspections. The exhibition also has a particular focus on Mackintosh’s designs for dwelling houses.
Mackintosh Architecture is the result of a landmark four-year research project led by The Hunterian which delivers the first comprehensive evaluation of Mackintosh’s architectural career.
The project, Mackintosh Architecture: Context Making and Meaning, has also resulted in a major new online resource. The website launches in July and provides a richly illustrated catalogue of Mackintosh’s architectural projects and architectural drawings, over 3000 images, 350 biographies, timeline, interactive map, glossary and bibliography. www.mackintosh-architecture.gla.ac.uk
Mackintosh Architecture is sponsored by Turcan Connell. It has received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Monument Trust. Organised in association with RIBA, London.
Mackintosh Architecture: Context, Making and Meaning has received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, with additional support from the Pilgrim Trust and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.
Mackintosh Architecture opens at the Hunterian Art Gallery on 18 July and runs until 4 January 2015.
The exhibition is supported by three special displays which showcase Mackintosh’s skills as a draughtsman and designer, largely drawn from The Hunterian’s unrivalled Mackintosh Collection: Mackintosh Travel Sketches; William Davidson: Art Collector; and C.R. Mackintosh: Begonias.
Mackintosh Travel Sketches presents a selection of drawings and sketchbooks, including studies from the north of Scotland, drawings of the castle at Holy Island, Northumberland, and later complex drawings from Cintra, Portugal. William Davidson: Art Collector displays highlights from the art collection of one of Mackintosh’s most important patrons and C.R. Mackintosh: Begonias focusses on one of Mackintosh’s most beautiful late still-life compositions, accompanied by botanical drawings and floral textile designs.
Mackintosh Architecture
18 July 2014 – 4 January 2015
Hunterian Art Gallery
Admission charge
Mackintosh Architecture: Context, Making and Meaning
Launches 18 July 2014
www.mackintosh-architecture.gla.ac.uk
Mackintosh Travel Sketches
18 July 2014 – 15 February 2015
Hunterian Art Gallery
Admission free
Charles Rennie Mackintosh: Begonias
18 July 2014 – 4 January 2015
Hunterian Art Gallery
Admission free
William Davidson: Art Collector
18 July 2014 – 4 January 2015
Hunterian Art Gallery
Admission free
Hunterian Art Gallery
University of Glasgow
82 Hillhead Street
Glasgow G12 8QQ
Open Tuesday – Saturday 10.00am – 5.00pm and Sunday 11.00am – 4.00pm
For further information contact:
Professor Pamela Robertson
Senior Curator
Email: Pamela.Robertson@glasgow.ac.uk
For images contact:
Harriet Gaston
Communications Manager
Email: Harriet.Gaston@glasgow.ac.uk
Notes to Editors
The Hunterian is home to the largest single holding of the work of Scottish artist, architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868 – 1928) and The Mackintosh House, the reassembled interiors from his Glasgow home.
Mackintosh Architecture is accompanied by a wide-ranging events programme including a symposium, talks, and tours. It will subsequently tour to RIBA London in 2015. For further information visit www.glasgow.ac.uk/hunterian
A range of exhibitions, events and talks will also take place from July 2014 at other Mackintosh venues across Glasgow, culminating in the Creative Mackintosh Festival in October 2014. To find our more visit www.glasgowmackintosh.com
The Hunterian is one of the world's leading University museums and one of Scotland’s greatest cultural assets. Built on Dr William Hunter’s founding bequest, The Hunterian collections include scientific instruments used by James Watt, Joseph Lister and Lord Kelvin; outstanding Roman artefacts from the Antonine Wall; major natural and life sciences holdings; Hunter’s own extensive anatomical teaching collection; one of the world’s greatest numismatic collections and impressive ethnographic objects from Captain Cook’s Pacific voyages.
The Hunterian is also home to one of the most distinguished public art collections in Scotland and features the world’s largest permanent display of the work of James McNeill Whistler.
First published: 29 April 2014