Bendigo Art Gallery – Charles Rennie Mackintosh Exhibition

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Jools was told last week a few weeks back that The Bendigo Art Gallery has exhibition featuring the works of Charles Rennie Mackintosh called DESIGNS FOR A MODERN WORLD: The exhibition will include stuff on loan from the collection of Glasgow Museums, Scotland.

So quick as a flash we are off to Bendigo . Well not quite, we had to wait for the weekend (and a whole bunch of emergencies, phone calls, one job interview, a concert and a birth).

To quote from their website

A highlight of the exhibition is the magnificent ‘Hill House’ writing desk designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1904. Mackintosh was one of the most celebrated designers and architects of his generation, taking inspiration from Scottish traditions and blending this with the flourish of Art Nouveau and simple Japanese forms.

Made from ebonised oak with mother of pearl, The Hill House desk was purchased last year by the Glasgow Museums and the National Trust for Scotland. for just under ₤1 million, making it the world’s most expensive piece of 20th century furniture.

So assuming you are reading this on Sunday morning, this where you were supposed to find us today. But as usual, the gods doth continue to conspire against us.

10 years ago ( God was it really that long?) when we went to Scotland the first time, Charles Rennie Mackintosh was one of the we have to see things. So we went along to the Mackintosh House (The interiors of 6 Florentine Terrace, Glasgow – home of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh from 1906 to 1914) which had been acquired by the University’s Hunterian Art Gallery and meticulously reassembled within it. Just beautiful.

The next stop was down in Sauciehall Street and afternoon tea at The Willow Tea Rooms, we sat there pretending what it must have been like (pretty damn cool) when Mackintosh designed it in the early part of the 20th century and on the way we snuck through the doors of The Glasgow School Of Art (which has to be the best looking Art School I have ever seen) and had a “quick” look around. No one hassled us, so we must have looked like we belonged there.

You can find out a heap more at http://www.crmsociety.com/ (they have lots of spiffy pictures) or just dash up to Bendigo before 5:00pm (times running out)… or just go to Glasgow (hang the expense). BTW. I’m available if you need a guide.

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