In the ambit of Great Britain the most relevant expression of Art Nouveau was the Scottish one of the Glasgow school. The Group of the Four, formed by Herbert MacNair, his sisters Margaret and Frances Macdonald and by Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928), the major exponent, were part of it. The decorative characteristics of the Glasgow style are sobriety, refinement and functional simplicity. Mackintosh’s furniture has clean, essential lines in oak, dyed dark or painted white. It is characterized by the accentuation of the vertical elements, above all the famous backs of the chairs, extended and trellised. In the structure, the influences of the bi-dimensional modules of the Japanese architecture can be recognized, in the ornamental motifs, on the other hand, those of Celtic art.
In the copper or brass embossed panels which decorate the pieces of furniture, iconographical motifs more typical of school appear: slim figures of women, the expressive motif of hands, the outlining in thin vertical lines and first among all, that of the stylized rose. The pieces of the Group of the Four were exhibited in London in 1890 with the works of the exponents of Arts and Crafts, In Liege in 1895, then in Paris, in Lion and in Vienna and, in 1902 in Turin. They roused interest everywhere, but influenced artists in Germany and Austria more significantly.
Itinerario Liberty - Planning and Realization - Stefano Pelosi - www.stefanopelosi.it