Quest for Charles Rennie Mackintosh, The

Details

Charles Rennie Mackintosh can be described as the greatest-ever Scottish architect, a water colourist of genius or a capricious interior designer with a flair for unstable furniture. He is all of these things, but he is also an enigma - an almost impenetrable figure in the history of Scottish art and architecture. John Cairney tells of the working life of Charles Rennie Mackintosh as well as the beautiful love story which tragically ended with his sudden death at the age of 60.

Additional Information

Title	Quest for Charles Rennie Mackintosh, The
Author	John Cairney
Binding	Paperback
ISBN-13	9781905222438
No. of Pages	302
Series	The Quest For
Edition	N/A
Author Bio	John Cairney is an actor, writer, painter and lecturer. In 1975 he wrote the script for Mackintosh the Man, a 90-minute Dramatised Lecture Reading which was later fleshed out by a full cast and shown by STV. When researching this script Cairney found no books on Mackintosh's personal life and so has spent thirty years in pursuit of Mackintosh in hopes of ultimately revealing the story of the man himself. John Cairney's work as an actor, including solo performances playing Robert Burns and Robert Louis Stevenson, has taken round the world several times. He appeared at the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre as Hamlet and at the Edinburgh Festival as Macbeth and became a household name playing Burns in the eponymous TV series. For two years he was This Man Craig. He has also appeared in many well-known series such as Dr Finlay's Casebook, The Avengers and Jackanory. His films include Jason and the Argonauts, Cleopatra, Victim and A Night to Remember. He studied for a PhD on Robert Louis Stevenson, awarded by Victoria University, Wellington in 1994. He has lived in New Zealand since 1990 with his wife, actress and writer Alannah O'Sullivan. Previous books for Luath Press include On the Trail of Robert Burns, The Luath Burns Companion, Immortal Memories and The Quest for Robert Louis Stevenson.
Back Cover Copy	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. For the last thirty years John Cairney has been on a personal quest to find the complex man behind the facade that was Charles Rennie Mackintosh, architect and artist. Though recognised even in his own day as a genius, he was by no means a saint of high morals and mystic vision. He was a flesh and blood charmer, who attracted women as much as he irritated men. He was all artist, but also all man, with the advantages and disadvantage of both. This book explores many hitherto unexamined aspects of Toshie's life, delving into the significance of Mackintosh's relationship with his mother, the importance of his first girlfriend, and how much his wife, Margaret Macdonald, contributed to his life. The is the life of an extraordinary talent, a great love story with personal complications, professional conflicts, triumphs and disasters, and an engulfing tragic ending.
Reviews	'Makes for grand reading and for a stronger sense of the man than can be found in most of the more scholarly tomes' - The Sunday Herald (refers to the hardback edition)
Table of Contents	N/A
BISAC Subject	BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Artists, Architects, Photographers
BIC Subject	Biography: arts & entertainment

Email to a Friend