Charles Rennie Mackintosh – Thursday 1st November 2018

By Anthea Streeter.

Nowadays many people are familiar with Mackintosh’s striking and innovative designs; his high-backed chairs and white-paintedfurniture.  Yet, in his day at the turn of the twentieth century, only a handful of British clients recognised the outstanding talent of this Scottish architect and designer.  On the Continent, however, and particularly in Austria and Germany, progressive designers marvelled at his work and considered him a hero.

This lecture traces Mackintosh’s career, looking at his major commissions and interiors, such as those for the Glasgow School of Art and The Hill House at Helensburgh.  We will also look at Mackintosh’s less well-known but exquisite watercolour paintings, painted throughout his career but especially when he and his wife Margaret were resident in France towards the end of Mackintosh’s life.  Finally we will consider the consequences of the tragic fire at the Glasgow School of Art in 2014 and how the restoration of its world-renowned library is being addressed.

Anthea Streeter

Many members will remember Anthea’s fantastic lecture on Thomas Heatherwick (and our subsequent visit to the Bombay Sapphire Distillery to see his design of two glass houses for rare plants and botanicals).

Anthea studied the Fine and Decorative Arts in London and continued her studies at Harvard University.  It was while at Harvard, where there was a great enthusiasm for American design, that she herself became interested in 20th century architecture.  Since returning from America she has taught on courses in Oxford and London, lectured on the Country House Course in Sussex, and for several private groups around the country.