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Charles Rennie Mackintosh: A Resource Guide

This guide provides resources on Scottish architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh, his artistic circle, and influences on the Art Nouveau movement.

Introduction

Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Glasgow School of Art, a building remarkably in advance of its time, 1898-1899. External [between 1898 and 1899]. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International. CC BY-NC 2.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/ External.

Iconic Scottish Architect, designer, and watercolorist Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) was an early modernist who is particularly recognized for the striking originality of his designs. In collaboration with his wife, artist Margaret Macdonald, her sister Frances, and J. Herbert McNair, "The Four" formed a small but extraordinarily creative circle whose artistic endeavors coincided with the British Arts and Crafts movement, contributed to the fresh, invigorating look of Art Nouveau design, and were instrumental in the creation of what became known as the "Glasgow Style."

One crucial element of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's design approach was the incorporation of undulating lines and natural forms across a broad spectrum of design: architecture, interior decoration, metalwork, glass, textiles, paintings, furniture, and other decorative fixtures. Mackintosh's restrained shapes, geometric elements and unusual proportions influenced artists, architects and designers across the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States.

This guide includes resources primarily found in the General Collections of the Library of Congress that address both extant and unrealized architectural structures as well as Mackintosh’s wide-ranging and distinctive designs for furniture and other elements of interior decoration. Biographical resources, electronic databases, contemporaneous decorative-arts journals, and works that discuss Mackintosh’s influences, competitions, awards, and participation in major exhibitions such as the 1902 International Exposition of Modern Decorative Art in Turin, Italy are included.