CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH VISIT TO BLAIRGOWRIE (1909)
CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH VISIT TO BLAIRGOWRIE (1909)
Architect and designer
“Life is the leaves which shape and nourish a plant, but art is the flower which embodies its meaning.” – Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Charles Rennie Mackintosh was born in Glasgow on 7 June 1868.
He was the fourth of eleven children born to William McIntosh and Margaret Rennie.
In 1884 Mackintosh started work as an apprentice architect and, in the evenings, studied at the Glasgow School of Art. It was there, around 1892, that he met fellow artist Margaret Macdonald, whom he married in 1900.
Margaret’s sister Frances Macdonald had married Charles’ friend
Herbert MacNair the previous year. For more about Charles Rennie Mackintosh visit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Rennie_Mackintosh
So what brought Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the world renowned
Glasgow architect, artist and designer to Blairgowrie?
In 1909 Charles Ogilvie, a friend of Mackintosh rented Newton Castle, and Mackintosh visited Ogilvie at the property. Mackintosh kept a detailed sketch-book during his travels, and his 1909 visit to Blairgowrie is famously recorded in an architectural pencil sketch entitled “Newton Castle, Blairgowrie” which is held in the Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow.
Newton Castle was the home of the Macpherson family since the 1780s. For more about Newton Castle visit
https://www.ourheritageblairrattray.scot/timeline/newton-castle
It is understood that until 1998 no one in Blairgowrie knew of Mackintosh’s visit in 1909 or of the famous sketch.
Even the late Sir William Macpherson of Cluny was unaware of it until 1998, but, when the Blairgowrie, Rattray and District Civic Trust applied to The Hunterian Museum to reproduce the sketch in notelets and postcards, it was with Sir William’s blessing.