New exhibit comes to Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement in St. Petersburg

The Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement has announced a new exhibition coming in March. “Designing the New: Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow Style” is a touring exhibition organized by Glasgow Museums and the American Federation of Arts.

It is the first touring U.S. exhibition in a generation for the renowned Scottish architect, designer and artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928). Many of the works had not been exhibited in the U.S. ever before. The tour began in 2019 in Baltimore, and the exhibition makes its final U.S. stop at the Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement in St. Petersburg, running March 11-June 5.

The exhibition features 166 works of art and design by and related to Mackintosh and the Glasgow School of Art. It features seminal works by Mackintosh, including graphic designs for posters and high-backed chairs for artistic tea rooms, along with lesser-known works in textile and interior design and the watercolors he painted in the last years of his life. It highlights his connection to influential artists, collaborators and his hometown of Glasgow.

The Glasgow Style came from the Arts and Crafts movement to become the only British response to Art Nouveau in the late 1890s through 1900s. The exhibition highlights the Glasgow School of Art’s encouragement of women designers, plus the processes involved in the creation of the furnishings, interiors and works of art that define the Glasgow Style. Audio visual components enhance the objects and bring Glasgow School architecture to life.

Many of the artists of the Arts and Crafts movement were inspired by Mackintosh and the Glasgow School’s works, and related pieces in the museum’s collection will be highlighted with educational programming.

“(Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement) is thrilled to have the opportunity to present the stunning and historically significant work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow School, contemporaries of Arts and Crafts artisans in America,” Rudy Ciccarello, the museum’s president, said in a news release. “‘Designing the New’ provides an opportunity to see MAACM’s permanent collection in light of its international context, illuminating the many connections between the two movements.”

“Designing the New” is curated by Alison Brown, Glasgow Museums’ curator for European Decorative Arts and Design from 1800 to the present. Works included in the exhibition are drawn from Glasgow Museums’ civic collections, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow, The Glasgow School of Art, and loans from private collections.

Extensive programming is planned through the exhibition’s run at the museum. A fully-illustrated catalogue will be available for purchase in the museum store.

For more information, visit museumaacm.org.