Charles Rennie MacKintosh: Art is the Flower

This volume concentrates on the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, influential Scottish architect, artist and designer, who painted flowers and plants prolifically throughout his career. It traces the development of his botanical studies from the early pencil sketchbook drawings, through the introduction of watercolour in the early 1900s, culminating in the Suffolk group of 1914 to 1915, and concluding with the studies from France of 1923 to 1927. The book also considers the work of contemporary symbolists, the evident influence of Japanese floral art, the European botanical tradition and early herbals. It also looks at the use of plant forms as decorative and formal sources for his design work in architecture, furniture, interiors, textiles and graphics, most notably his use of the rose as a design theme throughout his work.