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Items in The Glasgow School of Art's Mackintosh collection include: furniture, watercolours, drawings, architectural drawings, design drawings, sketchbooks, metalwork and photographs.

Mackintosh studied evening classes at the Glasgow School of Art between 1883-1894, winning numerous student prizes and competitions including the prestigious Alexander Thomson Travelling Studentship in 1890. Mackintosh and his contemporaries also produced four volumes of a publication called "The Magazine" during their time as students, which included examples of their writing and artworks. GSA Archives and Collections hold Mackintosh's Italian Sketchbook, as well as all four volumes of The Magazine, all of which can be browsed on our catalogue.

The majority of Mackintosh's three-dimensional work was created with the help of a small number of patrons within a short period of intense activity between 1896 and 1910. Francis Newbery was headmaster of The Glasgow School of Art during this time and was supportive of Mackintosh's ultimately successful bid to design a new art school building in 1896 - his most prestigious undertaking. For Miss Kate Cranston he designed a series of Glasgow tearoom interiors and for the businessmen William Davidson and Walter Blackie, he was commissioned to design large private houses, 'Windyhill' in Kilmacolm and 'The Hill House' in Helensburgh. In Europe, the originality of Mackintosh's style was quickly appreciated and in 1900 he was invited to participate at the 8th Vienna Secession.

In 1902 Mackintosh was invited to participate at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art in Turin and later at exhibitions in Moscow and Berlin. Despite this success Mackintosh's work met with considerable indifference at home. Few private clients were sufficiently sympathetic to want his 'total design' of house and interior and he was incapable of compromise.

By 1914 Mackintosh had despaired of ever receiving true recognition in Glasgow and together with his wife Margaret Macdonald he moved, temporarily, to Walberswick on the Suffolk Coastline (in England), where he painted many fine flower studies in watercolour. In 1915 the Mackintoshes settled in London and for the next few years Mackintosh attempted to resume practice as an architect and designer. The designs he produced at this time for textiles, for the 'Dug-out' Tea Room in Glasgow and the dramatic interiors for 78 Derngate in Northampton, England show him working in a bold new style of decoration, using primary colours and geometric motifs.

In 1923 the Mackintoshes left London for the South of France, finally living in Port Vendres where Mackintosh gave up all thoughts of architecture and design and devoted himself entirely to painting landscapes. He died in London, of cancer, on 10 December 1928.

The majority of Mackintosh's design work, (including furniture and metalwork), architectural drawings, textile designs and watercolours are in the possession of three public collections - The Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow Museums, and the Hunterian Art Gallery at the University of Glasgow - although significant (individual) pieces can be found in museums across the UK and Europe, North America and Japan. However, some of Mackintosh's most important, symbolist watercolours from the early to mid-1890s are to be found in the collection of The Glasgow School of Art.

The Glasgow School of Art Archives and Collections hold a large number of items by Mackintosh, giving us one of the largest collections of his work held in public ownership. The collection is one of 50 Recognised Collections of National Significance to Scotland. We continue to investigate new routes of engagement for the collection. For example, our Mac(k)cessibility project in conjunction with GSA’s School of Simulation and Visualisation explores digital display and loans of our Mackintosh furniture. Find out more about the Mac(k)cessibility project here.

This collection includes works by a number of artists, designers and architects associated with Charles Rennie Mackintosh, including his wife Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, his sister-in-law Frances Macdonald MacNair and his sister-in-law's husband Herbert MacNair. These works include textiles, designs, and four volumes of a Glasgow School of Art student publication called The Magazine, as well as several individual watercolours now separated from the publication. The collection also includes a number of models for proposed architectural schemes by Mackintosh.

The library was destroyed by fire on 23 May 2014, though many metal and glass fragments from the lights were subsequently salvaged. Originally, and according to Mackintosh’s preparatory sketches, there were thought to be 53 individual lights in the library, each with punched holes in the inner reflectors which allowed light to pass through blue and purple glass. The central array was made up of 12 small canisters attached to the light frame on the ceiling, with eight medium pendants and five large pendants hanging below. There were an additional twelve medium canisters attached to the coffered ceiling both above and below the library balcony, making 24. Originally there were also four additional medium hanging pendants in each of the south and western window bays, though these four lights, and the medium canister in the librarians office, had all been removed before the fire in 2014, meaning there were 48 in the library. This incomplete light, was one of the largest single pieces salvaged from the floor of the library and the decision has been taken not to try and restore it but rather to keep it in its current condition as a visual record of the tragedy.

This item was severely damaged in the fire in The Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art on 15th June 2018. Some fragments have been salvaged. The bell survives as it was not in the building at the time of the fire.

The symbols which form the Glasgow coat of arms all refer to miracles performed by St. Mungo, the patron saint of the city who is normally represented with these emblems on the coat of arms. They first appeared on the seals of bishops of Glasgow, the fish on the seal of William Wishart in 1270, the bird on the seal of Robert Wishart in 1271. They were used together for the first time on the seal of the Chapter of Glasgow in 1488. The salmon with the ring in its mouth refers to the story of the local Queen who gave her ring to a knight she was in love with, the jealous King stole the ring from the knight while he was asleep and then demanded it back from the Queen, having thrown it into the Clyde. In desperation she prayed to St. Mungo who told his followers to cast their fishing nets in the river and bring him the first fish that they caught, a salmon with the Queen's ring in its mouth. The tree represents the green hazel twig which Mungo restored to life after his companions had killed it. The bell represents the service bell used in Mungo's church and still in Glasgow until c1700. Mackintosh's tree is highly abstract in its Art Nouveau 'whiplash' spirals untypical of his work. The bird is a modern replacement of the stolen original.

Designed for Miss Cranston's Ingram Street Tea rooms, Glasgow. The Ingram Street Tea Rooms were purchased by Glasgow Corporation in 1951 for £25,000 and were then rented out as various shops and warehouses.

Designed for Miss Cranston's Ingram Street Tea rooms, Glasgow. The Ingram Street Tea Rooms were purchased by Glasgow Corporation in 1951 for £25,000 and were then rented out as various shops and warehouses.

One of a set of four panels shown at the Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art in Turin in 1902.

One of a set of four panels shown at the Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art in Turin in 1902.

One of a set of four panels shown at the Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art in Turin in 1902.

One of a set of four panels shown at the Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art in Turin in 1902.

Designed for Miss Cranston's Ingram Street Tea rooms, Glasgow. The Ingram Street Tea Rooms were purchased by Glasgow Corporation in 1951 for £25,000 and were then rented out as various shops and warehouses.

Designed for Miss Cranston's Ingram Street Tea rooms, Glasgow. The Ingram Street Tea Rooms were purchased by Glasgow Corporation in 1951 for £25,000 and were then rented out as various shops and warehouses.

Designed for Miss Cranston's Ingram Street Tea rooms, Glasgow. The Ingram Street Tea Rooms were purchased by Glasgow Corporation in 1951 for £25,000 and were then rented out as various shops and warehouses.

Designed for Miss Cranston's Ingram Street Tea rooms, Glasgow. The Ingram Street Tea Rooms were purchased by Glasgow Corporation in 1951 for £25,000 and were then rented out as various shops and warehouses.

Designed for Miss Cranston's Ingram Street Tea rooms, Glasgow. The Ingram Street Tea Rooms were purchased by Glasgow Corporation in 1951 for £25,000 and were then rented out as various shops and warehouses.

Designed for Miss Cranston's Ingram Street Tea rooms, Glasgow. The Ingram Street Tea Rooms were purchased by Glasgow Corporation in 1951 for £25,000 and were then rented out as various shops and warehouses.

Designed for Miss Cranston's Ingram Street Tea rooms, Glasgow. The Ingram Street Tea Rooms were purchased by Glasgow Corporation in 1951 for £25,000 and were then rented out as various shops and warehouses.