Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868 - 1928) was a Scottish
architect, designer, watercolourist who was a designer in the
Arts and Crafts Movement and also the main exponent of Art
Nouveau in Scotland. Born in Glasgow, he was apprenticed to an
architect, but also attended evening classes in art. It was at
that time he first met Margaret MacDonald (whom he later
married), her sister Frances MacDonald, and Herbert McNair. The
group of artists, known as "The Four," exhibited in Glasgow,
London and Vienna, and these exhibitions helped establish
Mackintosh's reputation. The so-called "Glasgow" style was
exhibited in Europe and influenced the Viennese Art Nouveau
movement known as Sezessionstil (in English, The Secession)
around 1900. He joined a firm of architects in 1889 and
developed his own style: a contrast between strong right angles
and floral-inspired decorative motifs with subtle curves, e.g.
the Mackintosh Rose motif, along with some references to
traditional Scottish architecture. The project that helped make