This drawing, in the collection of The Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, was produced for W.J. Bassett-Lowke in 1916 whilst the Mackintoshes were living in Chelsea ( note the studio address written at the foot of the drawing ). It shows in some detail key elements of the decorative scheme for the Hall Lounge of 78 Derngate. Mackintosh turned the existing staircase ( which was to the right of the scene in the drawing ) through 90 degrees, to a position against the wall facing the entrance to this room from the street via the front door. He then designed a lattice screen set with leaded glass panels to sit in front of it, like a screen wall. To the right of the screen is a floor to ceiling swinging door permitting access to the lower stairs and Dining Room at the rear. At the edge of the drawing on the right are two views of the ‘78 Derngate chair‘ designed for this room. Four of these chairs were produced. At left is the design for the standard lamp, thought to be a stylised plant form, located at the foot of the new staircase. The vivid triangle-based stencil is shown on the walls and carried through, behind the screen, into the stairway. The strict geometry of the design is exemplified by the grid shown on the wall and embodied in the very fabric of the screen in its lattice construction.
Mackintosh reprised here elements of designs produced for other, earlier schemes; most notably The Chinese Room for Miss Cranston’s Ingram Street Tearooms which utilised similar lattice structures and oriental-inspired motifs. The concept of a stairway screen was earlier used in the Director’s Studio at The Glasgow School of Art and also at The Willow Tea Rooms in Glasgow.
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The Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery catalogue information.
Textile design: bouquet
CRE MACKINTOSH, Charles Rennie; (Scottish; 1868-1928)
pencil and watercolour on wove paper 34.4 x 51.3
Catalogue number: 41104