CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH (1868-1928)
SKETCH FOR A BLOCK OF STUDIOS AND FLATS FOR THE ARTS LEAGUE OF SERVICE, GLEBE PLACE, CHELSEA
£18,900
Auction: Lots 267 to 528 | 18th April at 10am
Description
pencil and bodycolour on tracing paper, laid down on board
Dimensions
13cm x 12.5cm (frame size 24cm x 28.5cm)
Provenance
Provenance: The artist, by whom given to
Major Desmond Chapman-Huston, by whom given to
Francis Webb
Private Collection
Footnote
Exhibited: Glasgow, McLellan Galleries, Mackintosh Memorial Exhibition, May 1933.
Note: In early 1920, Mackintosh received several commissions for buildings on the site of Old Chelsea House, including designs for three studios for Arthur Cadogan Blunt, Harold Squire and Francis Derwent Wood. The Arts League of Service also commissioned this block of studios and flats for the south side of Glebe Place, facing Upper Cheyne Row. Founded in a spirit of idealism after the First World War, the Arts League of Service set itself the task of 'placing within the reach of everyone higher forms of entertainment, and opportunities for the enjoyment of any art or craft', and set out to bring the arts into everyday life. The dramatic design was never executed as the Arts League ran out of money, but its experimental form is one of Mackintosh's most compelling late schemes.