Glasgow School of Art

Glasgow School of Art. Art school founded in 1840 as the School of Design in Ingram Street, Glasgow. In 1869 it moved to Sauchiehall Street, and in 1885 Francis Newbery was appointed director, ushering in the School's golden period, when under his guidance it ‘developed rapidly from a provincial art school providing mainly evening classes into a significant centre of art training with a style and reputation of its own’ ( Julian Halsby and Paul Harris, The Dictionary of Scottish Painters: 1600–1960, 1990). In 1896 Charles Rennie Mackintosh won a competition to design a new building for the School in Renfrew Street and this was erected in 1897–9, with a library block and other extensions added in 1907–9. Together they form one of the most original and dramatic works of architecture of the period anywhere in Europe. Mackintosh himself had attended evening classes at the School, and Newbery had introduced him to another student, Frances Macdonald, who became his wife. Newbery's own wife, Jessie Newbery, née Rowat (1864–1948), joined the staff of the School in 1894 and taught embroidery. ‘Together they created a formidable team. Fra Newbery was excellent at recognizing talent, often appointing very young ex-students to the staff and employing more women than was usual at the time. He also treated all areas of design as equal to the fine arts … He had wide connections abroad and encouraged the staff and students to take part in exhibitions in Europe’ ( Halsby and Harris). The First World War followed by Newbery's retirement in 1918 brought the School's most distinguished period to an end, but it retained a high reputation and produced another outstanding crop of graduates in the 1980s, including Steven Campbell, Stephen Conroy, and Alison Watt.