Charles Rennie Mackintosh
One of the reasons I love to walk wherever I can is, you never know what you might miss if you take the car. In cities, bus tours are a good option, because you don’t have to concentrate on driving, but even then, a bus tour round a city is only going to show you certain, popular highlights, inevitably missing out on other attractions. I don’t know whether a tour takes you out past the Charles Rennie Mackintosh statue (the featured image for this blog post) but as it’s about twenty minutes walk from the centre of Glasgow, it’s well worth taking the time to go and see.
Mackintosh is considered Scotland’s greatest architect, designer and artist. Born in Glasgow in 1868, his design style is easily recognisable and has become hugely popular. If you do walk out to see the statue, keep going and another fifteen minutes takes you to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, (see blog post 84 in this series) which has an exhibition featuring his work.
If in the centre of Glasgow, you can find in Sauchiehall Street, Mackintosh at the Willow (the Original Willow Tea Rooms Building). This was designed by Mackintosh and is his last surviving tea rooms, originally opened in 1903. It’s recently been renovated and provides a great indication of his style. If interested you can look up other surviving examples of his work which can be seen and enjoyed around Glasgow.
The bronze statue was commissioned for the 90th anniversary of his death, and was unveiled to the public on 10th December 2018 which is in fact the 150th anniversary of his birth. It depicts him as a young man, in suit, waistcoat and large bowtie, handkerchief tucked into his breast pocket, sitting on the high-backed chair he designed for the tea rooms in Glasgow. You get the impression that he is studying with interest all who pass by him. It weighs three tons, is 2.8m (9ft) tall and sits on a 2.2m (6.5ft) plinth. A fitting tribute to a great designer. As noted it is off the tourist track, at the junction of Argyle Street and St Vincent Street in an area known as Anderson. It’s just over a mile from Queen Street Station. It was created by Kelpies sculptor Andy Scott, the Kelpies being the two massive horses heads out by Falkirk (I will blog about these in a future posting).
I like the fact it’s in an area that is not so obvious. If everything is crammed into city centres, then no one will ever venture out. I’ve done this walk several times and always look forward to stopping off at the statute and taking yet another picture.
The Fiction Factory 