Letters from Rodin, Wells and Morris uncovered at Glasgow School of Art
Letters written by some of the great figures of the late 19th Century have been uncovered at Glasgow School of Art.
William Morris, HG Wells and Rodin are among those who wrote to the head of the art school, Fra Newbery.
Archivist Rachael Jones discovered a box of material in the art school's archive that had not been catalogued.
She said it contained "real gems" about an incredibly dynamic period in the school's history.
Francis Henry Newbery was director of The Glasgow School of Art from 1885 to 1918, a time when its international reputation was growing.
Newbery was also responsible for commissioning a young Charles Rennie Mackintosh to design the world-famous building which now bears his name.
Among the archives, Ms Jones found a pack of four letters written by the designer and social reformer William Morris discussing an invitation to give some lectures in Scotland in the spring of 1889.
In the earliest of the letters, dated 14 January, Morris declares that he does not like to say no, but that he has "memories of early spring in Glasgow from last year which rather terrify one".
GSA lecturer Dr Helen McCormack said the letters revealed Morris was a much more frequent visitor to Glasgow than had been previously believed.
Dr McCormack said Mackintosh, who was still a GSA student in 1889, would have had the opportunity to attend Morris' Arts & Crafts lecture.
"It is generally agreed among scholars that Mackintosh's work, not least the building at GSA which bears his name, conveys some stylistic and architectural details determined by Arts & Crafts ideals," she said.
"Here in these letters we learn about an event at which the young designer would almost certainly have learned about these principles from one of the leaders of the Arts & Crafts movement, William Morris."
Also in the correspondence is a letter from one of the original Glasgow Boys, the leading artist Sir John Lavery.
He sent the letter to Newbery after he had early view of works to be shown in the 1897 Biennale.
Lavery says he expects that the Italian papers are surpassing each other in praise of Newbery's work.
Meanwhile, a letter from War of the Worlds author, HG Wells, shares reminiscences of the time he and Newbery were associated with the South Kensington system in the late 19th Century, at the time when "Darwin's Bulldog", TH Huxley, was giving his final lectures.
The international reputation of Glasgow School of Art under the direction of Newbery is underlined in two letters from one of the world's greatest sculptors, Auguste Rodin.
In the earlier of the two letters (1901), Rodin writes to Newbery asking about the public reaction to plasters of two of his famous sculptures - St Jean and Les Bourgeois de Calais - that had been sent to The Glasgow International Exhibition, the major event that marked the opening of Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery.
"The wonderful thing about an archive as rich as ours at the GSA is that it contains so many exciting items," says Ms Jones.
"We are sure that many more gems will be discovered as we continue work on the thousands of documents, photographs and artefacts that are held here in the archives."