Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Architect, interior designer, furniture designer, painter, and graphic artist, Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) was a modern Renaissance man. This far-ranging book by the leading scholars in the field offers new information and ideas about many aspects of Mackintosh's work: his famous tea rooms, his distinctive furniture, and his evocative paintings. In addition, individual chapters are devoted to his two most remarkable surviving buildings, Glasgow School of Art and The Hill Houseboth illustrated with specially commissioned color photographs. The authors also provide a fresh and thoughtful look at Mackintosh's context in turn-of-the-century Glasgow and London while revising many of the myths that have long obscured his life and career. His extensive collaboration with his wife, Margaret Macdonald, and his working relationships with his mentors and patrons receive enlightening scrutiny as well.
This authoritative volume - which accompanies a major retrospective with an international tour, organized by the Glasgow Museums - also contains an extensive chronology, a cast of characters, a selected bibliography, and an appendix of the Mackintosh buildings and interiors that are still in existence.

The essays and illustrations in this handsome volume, published in conjunction with an international retrospective, detail all aspects of Mackintosh's (1868-1928) art. Part of the current fascination with this legendary figure derives from his reputation as a tragic genius, a man exiled from his native Scotland in 1914 because he had German and Austrian connections and largely forgotten at the time of his death. Unlike many critics and historians, however, Kaplan, curator of the Wolfsonian Foundation in Miami Beach, Fla., and the other scholars who here lucidly analyze Mackintosh's work play down the romantic aspects of his life and concentrate instead on his artistic achievements. They show how his early style grew out of Glasgow traditions, discuss at length his architectural commissions?particularly the Glasgow School of Art, the private residence known as The Hill House and the interiors of Glasgow teahouses?and examine his furniture design and painting. They also emphasize his lifelong collaboration with his wife, Margaret Macdonald, a painter whose influence is seen in the ornamentation of his furniture and interiors. The 245 superb illustrations, 114 in full color, attest to the inventiveness and seductive appeal of Mackintosh's work.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a maverick and the leading architect, artist, and designer Scotland has ever known. Working with a team of leading scholars in the field, Kaplan, curator of the Wolfsonian in Miami, has compiled an informative and lavishly illustrated volume that stakes claim to being the definitive work on Mackintosh. The first of three major sections, "Mackintosh in Context," focuses on his training and contributions to Glasgow, his collaboration with The Four, and his reputation abroad. "Architecture" highlights his renowned masterpieces, The Glasgow School of Art and Hill House, and other works in Glasgow and London. "Art and Design" proudly displays his concept of total integrated design and also discusses his paintings and graphic works. The book closes with a checklist for an accompanying exhibition sponsored by the Glasgow Museum, a chronology, a cast of characters, and an appendix listing Mackintosh buildings and interiors still in existence. This work encompasses and expands on Pamela Robertson's Flowers: Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Elizabeth Wilhide's The Mackintosh Style (both LJ 10/1/95). Highly recommended for libraries and collections emphasizing architecture and decorative arts.?Stephen Allan Patrick, East Tennessee State Univ. Lib., Johnson City
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The brilliant Scottish architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868^-1928) is not an easy subject to tackle because of his impressively varied oeuvre and disinterest in writing or speaking about it. His vision inspired him to work in many forms and on all scales, from the grandeur of buildings to "stunningly inventive" interiors, graphics, and decorative arts. Mackintosh perfected a clean, linear, beautifully proportioned style emphasizing the contrast between dark and light and embodying a sense of calm, restraint, and elegance. Because few think of his home, the industrial city of Glasgow, as an art center, Mackintosh is often thought of as an "isolated genius" ; but as Kaplan and her contributors make clear, there was a lively circle of artists in the Glasgow of Mackintosh's era, and he benefited immeasurably from fruitful collaborations, especially with Margaret Macdonald, who became his wife. This excellent volume--a rich mix of high-quality illustrations and thorough and vivid commentary--was published in conjunction with a major traveling exhibition. Donna Seaman