Lyon & Turnbull present a collection of works by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in their forthcoming Design Since 1860 auction on 16 & 17 April 2025 in Edinburgh. Here are three examples of those on sale. https://www.lyonandturnbull.com/auctions/design-since-1860-828

‘BOULETERNÈRE’, CIRCA 1925
Estimate: £100,000 – £150,000

Description: watercolour with traces of pencil, signed with initials in pencil lower right CRM, and inscribed to reverse of sheet, possibly by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh D. BOULETENÈRE (SIC)/ C.R. MACKINTOSH

Dimensions: 44cm x 44cm (frame size 72cm x 72cm x 3.5cm)

Provenance: Ronald W.B. Morris Esq., Kilmacolm, an executor of the Estate of Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, acquired after the Memorial Exhibition in 1933
Christie’s, Edinburgh, ‘Fine Paintings and Drawings’, April 27, 1989, Lot 570
Donald & Eleanor Taffner, New York
Lyon & Turnbull, Edinburgh The Taffner Collection, 7 September 2012, lot 109
Private European collection

Exhibited: Glasgow, McLellan Galleries Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh: Memorial Exhibition, May 1933, no. 136;
Glasgow, Glasgow Museum and Art Galleries, Mackintosh Watercolours, July 1979, no. 201;
Glasgow, The Fine Art Society, The Memorial Exhibition: A Reconstruction 1983, no. 136
Edinburgh, Royal Scottish Academy Mackintosh Watercolours, 8th August – 5th October 1986, no. 48
Glasgow, McLellan Galleries, May 25th – September 30th 1996; New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 19th – February 16th 1996; Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, March 29th – June 22nd 1997; Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum, August 3rd – October 12th 1997, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Glasgow Museums Exhibition, Cat. No. 285
Edinburgh, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Charles Rennie Mackintosh in France, 26th November – 5th February 2006, Cat. No. 292

Literature: Billcliffe R. Mackintosh Watercolours, London 1978, p. 44, ill. p. 135, catalogue 201
Robertson P. and Long P. Charles Rennie Mackintosh in France, Edinburgh 2006, pp. 34-5
Crichton, Robin Monsieur Mackintosh: the Travels and Paintings of Charles Rennie Mackintosh in the Pyrénées-Orientales, Edinburgh 2006, pp. 63-5.

The year 1923 saw the Mackintoshes move from London to France, in the Pyrénées-Orientales, at Amélie-les-Bains. Low sales of their artwork, and an increasing number of architectural projects failing to come to fruition saw times become tight for the couple. They would have been encouraged to make the move by their circle of friends in London. Among them, notably, would have been fellow Scot and artist J.D. Fergusson and his partner Margaret Morris, who were both veterans of long sojourns working in France. As well as the obvious attractions of a change in light, climate and landscape, it made sense at a very practical level, offering a far cheaper way of life.

France marked the first time in Mackintosh’s life where there were no distractions from or demands away from his painting practice. Perhaps inevitably for an architect, Mackintosh was drawn to the local townscapes of the area. He was not attracted to grandeur however, rather the organic occurrence of more vernacular groups of dwelling – like the town of Bouleternère, somewhat vertiginously arranged on a sloping hill, culminating in a pinnacle topped with small church of rudimentary form. As Margaret remarked in a letter to Jessie Newbery in1925, “the buildings here (in this region of France) are a perpetual joy to us”.

These views were not directly topographical, instead often culminations of various viewpoints, arranged ‘just-so’ for the purposes of the paintings’ design. Like many of the French works, Mackintosh employs pale tones demarked by sparer uses of colour in a high key that frequently depart from realism; here in the blue used to delineate the shadows cast by the overhang of the red tiled rooves. In addition, the French watercolours utilise a very foreshortened pictorial plane, a device that again enhances the sense of pattern and design that so distinctly defines his work across all the media and genres he turned his hand to. These artistic choices combine to produce works of great sophistication.

The paintings produced in France – between 1910-15 – are considered very important, being a period of “remarkable evolution in his artistic practice”, as his biographer Roger Billcliffe describes it. Their importance also lies in the chronology of Mackintosh’s output. As Billcliffe continues, “…these works underscore his innovative approach to landscape painting and suggest a promising future as a painter, tragically curtailed by his untimely death from cancer in 1928.”

SUITE OF CUTLERY, 1902
Estimate: £20,000 – £30,000

Description: silver, comprising; A SINGLE SOUP SPOON, with deep almost circular bowl and with incised heel, pierced terminal, 26.5cm long; A SINGLE DESSERT SPOON, with deeper bowl and with incised heel, pierced terminal, 26.5cm long; A SINGLE DINNER FORK, with four prongs, pierced terminal, 26cm long; and A SINGLE DESSERT FORK, with four prongs, pierced terminal, 23cm long, each with maker’s mark DWH (David W. Hislop), hallmarked Glasgow 1902 (4)

Provenance: Fra H. Newbery and Jessie Newbery
Elsie Newbery and by family descent
Barclay Lennie Fine Art, Glasgow
Donald & Eleanor Taffner, New York
Lyon & Turnbull, Edinburgh The Taffner Collection, 7 September 2012, lot 23
Private European collection

Literature: Howarth T. Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Modern Movement, New York, 1953, pl. 50
Neuwirth W. Josef Hoffmann: Cutlery for the Wiener Werkstätte, Vienna 1982, p. 30

Mackintosh was commissioned in 1902 by Jessie and Francis (Fra) Newbery to create an elegant table set for 12 people. Fra Newbery, then director of the Glasgow School of Art, was a strong supporter of Mackintosh’s work and played a crucial role in promoting his career. His wife, Jessie Newbery, was an accomplished embroiderer and influential figure in the Arts & Crafts movement. Their long-standing friendship with Mackintosh and his wife, Margaret Macdonald, fostered many creative collaborations.

The commissioned cutlery set included a soup spoon, dessert spoon, dinner fork, and dessert fork. The order was placed through the Glasgow jeweller Edwards & Company and was executed by David W. Hislop, a skilled silversmith who had previously worked with Mackintosh on various projects. The cutlery set was later divided between the Newberys’ daughters, Mary and Elsie. Over time, Mary’s pieces were sold separately between 1970 and 1980.

Mackintosh’s cutlery design is revolutionary in its form. The spoons and forks feature exceptionally long, slender handles with a distinctive longitudinal oval opening. The forks are particularly striking, as the transition between the handle and the bowl was seamless, creating the illusion of a single, continuous band of metal. On the back, the bowls (except for the dessert fork) have a rectangular support with vertical embossing. The design anticipates Josef Hoffmann’s 1903 flaches Modell (flat model) cutlery, which was later showcased at the 1906 Wiener Werkstätte exhibition Der gedeckte Tisch (The Laid Table).

CABINET FOR SCOTLAND STREET SCHOOL, 1906
stained beech
Estimate: £4,000 – £6,000

Provenance: Scotland Street School, Glasgow, Scotland

Literature: Billcliffe R. Charles Rennie Mackintosh: The Complete Furniture, Furniture Drawings & Interior Designs, Cameron & Hollis, 2009, p. 237, no. 1906.23 where an example of this cabinet is illustrated.

Several examples held by Glasgow Museums (accession nos. ME.2000.8.52-4 and ME.2000.8.87)

Scotland Street School in Glasgow was designed by Mackintosh in 1903-4 and was to be his last totally new architectural work for the city. He was also responsible for the interiors, as was the case for other projects including The Glasgow School of Art and the Ingram Street Tearooms. The simpler design of this cabinet compared to other Mackintosh furniture reflects the more practical, institutional setting for which it was destined.