Glasgow School

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Glasgow School. A term that has been applied to several groups of artists whose activities have centred on Glasgow. The largest of these groups, which was at its peak in the last years of the 19th century, consisted mainly of painters who challenged the conservatism of the Royal Scottish Academy; they preferred to be known as the Glasgow Boys. A slightly later group, of which Charles Rennie Mackintosh was the leading member, created a distinctive Scottish version of Art Nouveau; the four principal members of this group are also known as the Glasgow Four. These two groups are distinct, but there is a slight overlap between them, as George Walton (1867–1933), a painter and designer who sometimes worked with Mackintosh, was the brother of the Glasgow Boy E. A. Walton. ( Cecile Walton, the daughter of E. A. Walton, was a member of the Edinburgh Group.)

More recently, the term ‘Glasgow School’ (or facetiously ‘Glasgow pups') has been applied to a group of figurative painters working in the city from the 1980s. They include Steven Campbell, Ken Currie (1960– ), Peter Howson (1958– ), and Adrian Wiszniewski (1958– ), all of whom were students at Glasgow School of Art at much the same time. (Among their teachers there was Sandy Moffat (1943– ), who encouraged a return to figurative art after the ‘anything goes’ 1970s.) Duncan Macmillan (Scottish Art in the 20th Century, 1994) writes: ‘In this group, Campbell, who was considerably older than the others, was the undoubted driving force … The success of this group as a whole was an important factor in Glasgow's cultural renaissance.’

Glasgow School. A term that has been applied to several groups of artists whose activities have centred on Glasgow. The first and largest of these groups was a loose association of artists active from about 1880 to the turn of the century; there was no formal membership or programme, but the artists involved (who preferred to be known as the Glasgow Boys) were linked by a desire to move away from the conservative and parochial values they thought were represented by the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh. Sir James Guthrie (1859–1930) and Sir John Lavery were probably the best-known members of the group. Several of them had worked in France and were proponents of open-air painting. The heyday of the group was over by 1900 and it did not survive the First World War, but it provided a powerful stimulus for Scottish art in the 20th century, breaking ground where the Scottish Colourists were soon to follow. A slightly later group, active from about 1890 to 1910, created a distinctive version of Art Nouveau. Its most important member was the architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh. More recently, the term ‘Glasgow School’ (or facetiously ‘Glasgow pups’) has been applied to a group of figurative painters working in the city from the 1980s. They include Ken Currie (1960– ), Peter Howson (1958– ), and Adrian Wiszniewski (1958– ), all of whom were students at Glasgow School of Art at much the same time.

Glasgow School. A term that has been applied to several groups of artists whose activities have centred on Glasgow. The first and largest of these groups was a loose association of artists active from about 1880 to the turn of the century; there was no formal membership or programme, but the artists involved (who preferred to be known as the Glasgow Boys) were linked by a desire to move away from the conservative and parochial values they thought were represented by the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh. Sir James Guthrie (1859–1930) and Sir John Lavery were probably the best-known members of the group. Several of them had worked in France and were proponents of open-air painting. The heyday of the group was over by 1900 and it did not survive the First World War, but it rejuvenated Scottish art, breaking ground where the Scottish Colourists were soon to follow. A slightly later group, active from about 1890 to 1910, created a distinctive version of Art Nouveau. Its most important member was the architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868–1928). More recently, the term ‘Glasgow School’ (or facetiously ‘Glasgow pups’) has been applied to a group of figurative painters working in the city from the 1980s. They include Ken Currie (1960– ), Peter Howson (1958– ), and Adrian Wiszniewski (1958– ), all of whom were students at Glasgow School of Art at much the same time.

Glasgow School. Name given to contemporary architects and designers in Glasgow in the 1890s and early 1900s, especially C. R. Mackintosh, Margaret (1865–1933) and Frances (1874–1921) Macdonald, and Herbert McNair (1868–1953). They employed calligraphic elements of Art Nouveau, including the femme-fleur, rose-ball, and long, flowing tendrils, earning them the collective title of ‘Glasgow Spook School’. They exhibited on the Continent, and had a considerable impact on the Sezession, especially in Vienna, where Hoffmann particularly admired their work. In architecture Art Nouveau was synthesized with aspects of vernacular buildings and the English Arts-and-Crafts movement, perhaps best seen at Mackintosh's Hill House, Helensburgh, and the Willow Tea Rooms, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow.

Bibliography

Lampugnani (ed.) & Dinsmoor (1986);
Steele (1994)