The Quest for Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Charles Rennie Mackintosh is established in the Scottish iconography as an architect of originality, a designer of genius and a painter of exceptional quality. He is, however, an enigma as a man. This Victorian Glaswegian made his way through the art scene at the end of the nineteenth century to become a famous figure in his own time and a legend today. A prophet is not without honour save in his own country, and this was certainly true of Mackintosh who managed to annoy, offend and enrage the architectural establishment of his day to an extent that he turned his back on his own city and went willingly into exile to England, and finally to France. In all of this, he was unfailingly supported by a fellow-artist and co-worker, Margaret Macdonald. They were often a test to each other, but each protected the others vulnerability. Their love story through challenging times is one of the great sagas of art history. This is the life of an ordinary Glasgow man with extraordinary talent, a great love story with personal complications, professional conflicts, triumphs and disasters and an engulfing tragic ending.