HE is revered around the world as an architect, designer and artist of astonishing talent and vision.
Tomorrow marks 150 years since Charles Rennie Mackintosh was born in Glasgow, and to celebrate The Herald has teamed up with People Make Glasgow to give away a fantastic birthday gift with every copy of the paper.
We asked you to decide which Mackintosh print you’d like us to give away for free tomorrow, and today we can reveal which one you chose: a beautiful pencil and watercolour sketch from 1896 featuring the charismatic female figure one expert has referred to as “Mackintosh’s Mona Lisa”.
We were inundated after offering a choice of four works representing different stages of the artist’s career, and “Part Seen, Imagined Part” won the public vote. The four originals are currently on show at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum as part of a major exhibition – Charles Rennie Mackintosh: Making the Glasgow Style – highlighting his continuing legacy and influence.
Glasgow Museums curator Alison Brown said: “I am thrilled ‘Part Seen Imagined Part’ is the winner. I kept changing my mind when trying to guess which print readers would choose as their favourite, however this watercolour drawing has such a mysterious air that it really captures the imagination.
“I like to think of the female in the sketch as Mackintosh’s Mona Lisa. She is an enigma with a serene expression in a composition full of unanswered questions. Exhibited in London in 1896, this drawing was transformed into a painted mural frieze for the interior of Miss Cranston’s Buchanan Street tearooms.”
Ms Brown added: “In the week we celebrate the 150th anniversary of his birth, it’s fantastic that readers are receiving their very own Mackintosh print to remind them of the creative genius of Glasgow’s greatest cultural icon. I hope this work will inspire people of all ages to go out and discover his beautiful buildings and designs.”
The exhibition at Kelvingrove is among a diverse array of events being held across Glasgow to celebrate Mackintosh’s birthday, including a family friendly party on Sunday at Scotland Street School, which the architect designed between 1903 and 1906 and is now a museum.
A print of “Part Seen, Imagined Part” will be given away with every copy of tomorrow’s Herald.
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