23rd May 2014

Taxonomy

Details / Notes

There was a fire in the west wing of the Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art on the 23rd May 2014, which unfortunately affected The Glasgow School of Art's archives and collections.

Since this date, staff have worked to assess and stabilise affected material. The majority of our paper archives and artworks on paper (including 100 works by Charles Rennie Mackintosh) were unharmed by the fire. A small percentage of the archives suffered water damage but these items were either air dried or frozen and are now stabilised and conserved. Our textile collections suffered water damage, but these textiles were also air dried and stabilised and have now been conserved. Our plaster casts suffered smoke damage and some water damage.

Sadly some items from the School's archives and collections were lost. Almost all of the oil paintings on canvas in the School's collection were stored above the Library and were therefore sadly destroyed. Items from our Mackintosh furniture collection which were in use in the Mackintosh Library or held in the store above this space were either destroyed or very badly damaged by the fire, however, fragments of furniture and fittings were recovered from the Mackintosh Library as a result of forensic archaeology work.

Many of our most important Mackintosh pieces were on display in a Furniture Gallery and in the School’s Mackintosh Room in the east wing of the building and were therefore unaffected by the fire.

We have decided to include descriptions and images of material lost in the fire on our online catalogue. Although the items no longer exist, their descriptions still provide valuable contextual information for researchers, such as titles, dates, custodial histories, related material etc. The images are also a useful resource, providing vital surrogates for users.

Code

S53

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23rd May 2014

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23rd May 2014

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23rd May 2014

2 Archival description results for 23rd May 2014

2 results directly related Exclude narrower terms

Plaster cast of Venus de Milo (Aphrodite of Milos)

  • PC/023C
  • Item
  • Mid 19th century-early 20th century
  • Part of Plaster Casts

This item was lost in the fire in The Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art on 23rd May 2014.

Original: Created at some time between 130 and 100 BC, to revive pre-hellenistic ideas. It is believed to depict Aphrodite (Venus to the Romans) the Greek goddess of love and beauty. Original excavated in 1820 on the Island of Melos. Original currently in the collection of the Louvre, Paris, France.