More Charles Rennie Mackintosh designs from Hill House.

Seating Niche:-

Upper room door:-

Circular table:-

Table and chairs (on different visit):-

Door and decoration:-

Child’s room door:-

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Mantelpieces:-

Bench. Early photographs of Hill House on wall:-

Beds:-

Child’s bed:-

Wall decoration:-

Shelves:-

As well as the fireplace in the Drawing Room of Hill House, Helensburgh there are several examples of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s attention to detail with such household fixtures.

Fireplace in study. Note also clock:-

Mrs Blackie’s bedroom fireplace:-

Another upper room fireplace:-

Child’s room fireplace:-

More upper room fireplaces:-

One of the most emblematic “Mackintosh” style parts of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed Hill House is the stairwell. See link and posts passim.

Stairwell entrance:-

Stairwell and window:-

On right hand wall compared to above:-

Lamp above Stair Landing:-

Carpet on stair landing:-

Iconic Mackintosh chair design. On Hill House stair landing:-

Earlier this week the good lady noticed that there was an exhibition of the works of John Henry Lorimer at the City Art Centre Edinburgh. That was only just in time. The exhibition opened in November but finishes tomorrow!

I have mentioned this artist before. And not just the once.

On Thursday (17^th) we made post-haste to see the exhibition before it closed.

One of the first of his pictures previously unfamiliar to me was The Long Shadows painted, like so much of his work, in the grounds of Kellie Castle in Fife. This photo does not do it justice:-

Lorimer was a good portraitist. One of the paintings on show depicted the ordination of elders in a Scottish Kirk. The figures were so lifelike in all their Calvinistic awfulness I couldn’t bear to inflict it on myself or you.

This portrait is of Lorimer’s architect brother Robert Stodart Lorimer, who designed over 300 War Memorials including the Scottish National War Memorial which lies in Edinburgh Castle:-

Typical of Lorimer’s painting of light and very like Spring Moonlight (see first link above) in its use of candlelight is Grandmother’s Birthday:-

Maternal Instinct by contrast contains very Victorian subject matter. Unfortunately reflections in the glass spoil this a little:-

The window in this one features in many of Lorimer’s paintings. I think this is The Birthday Party:-

Despite no overt lighting depiction this domestic subject is unmistakably Lorimer:-

Another fine portrait – of a lady. Unfortunately I forget whom:-

A well as oils Lorimer was very good with watercolour. This, The Gyles House, Pittenweem, is the house in Pittenweem to which the artist retired:-

Housework’s Aureole. In real life this treatment of light falling through a window onto a wall is superb. The photo is nothing by comparison:-

The exhibition’s poster image was Flight of the Swallows:-

Many more Paintings by Lorimer can be found at Art UK.

Stained Glass with Scottish Royal Coat of Arms:-

Dining table:-

Thrones in throne room:-

King’s bedchamber:-

A small chamber:-

The Long Gallery. Another ornate ceiling and many portraits of Stuart monarchs:-

The separate Stuart room also contained many portraits:-

Including James VI*:-

A smaller room further contains portraits of the so-called Pretenders to the throne subsequent to the “Glorious Revolution.” These kings who weren’t, from left to right here, were Prince Henry Benedict Stuart, James ‘VIII and III’ and Bonnie Prince Charlie. The first and third were brothers. Their portraits flank their father’s:-

*James I of England, Wales and Ireland.

On the walls of Lamb House, Rye, were a couple of paintings of interest.

The first was of the house itself, showing how it looked before the Music Room was destroyed in World War 2:-

The second was a street view from one of the windows painted by Beatrix Potter:-

I took this photo of the same view. Note the twisted chimney on the building which partly obscures St Mary’s Church:-

This is from street level:-

Closer view:-

Reverse view:-

Dining room:-

Ceiling of Library (formerly the servant’s Hall)

Window recess, Library. Note thickness of the wall, for defensive purposes:-

The muniments room was where the owner did his accounts and doled out money. The chair is said to be very old:-

Door to sitting room:-

Sitting room:-

Sitting room fireplace:-

Sitting room ceiling:-

van Dyk portrait of King Charles I in Drum Castle. Sadly photo did not turn out well:-

Bedroom:-

War Death Commemoration, Chapel, Drum Castle. Lieutenant Robert Hugh Irvine, the Gordon Highlanders, aged 22 years, killed at Singapore, 13/2/1942:-

Sad, sad news.

Alasdair Gray has died.

If he had never done anything else in his life his first novel Lanark (arguably four novels) would have made him the most important Scottish writer of the twentieth century’s latter half, if not the whole century. (Perhaps only Lewis Grassic Gibbon rivals him in that respect.)

But of course he published 8 more novels, the last of which I read in 2009, 4 books of short stories – see this review of one of them – 3 of poetry (I reviewed a couple here and here,) many pieces for theatre, radio and television plus books of criticism (as here) and commentary (eg see here).

Yet that was not the least of it. There is also his work as an artist and illustrator to take into account. His drawing/painting style was unique and uniquely recognisable; much admired and sought after.

A polymath and curmudgeon, learned and contrary, Gray was one of a kind.

Even as his work lives on we will miss his acerbic presence.

And I still have his The Book of Prefaces to peruse.

Alasdair Gray: 28/12/1934 – 29/12/2019. So it goes.

An Art Deco department store in Liverpool.

This picture is from Wikipedia:-

The building is known as “Dickie” Lewis or “Nobby” Lewis due to the nude statue by Jacob Epstein more properly known as Liverpool Resurgent. Again the photo is from Wikipedia:-

Unfortunately my own photograph (taken from the tour bus) was shot into the sun, hence the two above:-

I posted photos of some of the buildings in Drachten, Friesland, The Netherlands, in November 2016.

Last year we visited the town again and it seemd to be on a Mondrian kick.

Several commercial premises were done out in his signature style.

Garage:-

Shoe shop:-

Shoe shop’s other window:-

Stack of cubes in a café:-

Suspended cubes in the same café:-

We asked in the café what the reason for the Mondrian decorations was and they seemed not to know but thought it might have been a celebration of De Stijl (the Style.) 2017 was its 100^th anniversary.