# Glasgow Style

> Glasgow's distinctive answer to Art Nouveau, formed around Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Margaret and Frances Macdonald and Herbert MacNair at the Glasgow School of Art. It sets attenuated, ghostly figures and tight rosebuds against long vertical lines and small square lattices in tall, symmetrical compositions, balancing Celtic and Japanese restraint against continental exuberance.

- Period: 1890–1914
- Where: Western Europe
- Origin: Glasgow School of Art, Scotland
- Branch: Craft & organic
- Also known as: The Glasgow Four, Spook School, Scottish Art Nouveau
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/glasgow-style/

## How it works

- Stretch compositions and figures vertically, elongating bodies into tall, column-like silhouettes.
- Counterpoint long straight verticals and small square grids with a few tight, stylised rosebuds or seed-pods.
- Keep compositions symmetrical and frontal, concentrating ornament in small, precise clusters.
- Draw lettering by hand as attenuated capitals with unusually high or low crossbars.
- Work in a cool, limited palette of white, black, silver, rose and lilac.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (defining)
- [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (characteristic)
- [Isolated object](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/isolated-object/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Generous white space](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/generous-white-space/) (characteristic)
- [Repetition & rhythm](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/repetition-and-rhythm/) (characteristic)
- [Measured density](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/measured-density/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (defining)
- [Condensed display](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/condensed-display/) (characteristic)
- [All caps](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-caps/) (characteristic)

### Colour
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (characteristic)
- [Pastel](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pastel/) (characteristic)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (characteristic)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (characteristic)
- [Dark ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dark-ground/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Distortion & exaggeration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/distortion-and-exaggeration/) (defining)
- [Rectilinear](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rectilinear/) (defining)
- [Biomorphic curves](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/biomorphic-curves/) (characteristic)
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (characteristic)

### Surface & texture
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic)

### Ornament
- [Floral & vegetal](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/floral-and-vegetal/) (defining)
- [Geometric tessellation](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-tessellation/) (characteristic)
- [Rules & bars](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rules-and-bars/) (characteristic)
- [Restrained accents](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/restrained-accents/) (characteristic)

### Imagery
- [Line illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/line-illustration/) (defining)
- [Painterly illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/painterly-illustration/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Lithography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/lithography/) (characteristic)
- [Architecture & signage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/architecture-and-signage/) (characteristic)
- [Pen, brush & ink](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pen-brush-and-ink/) (characteristic)
- [Textile & craft](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/textile-and-craft/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Spiritual & sacred](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/spiritual-and-sacred/) (characteristic)
- [Romantic & sensual](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/romantic-and-sensual/) (characteristic)
- [Calm & contemplative](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/calm-and-contemplative/) (occasional)

Avoids: Horror vacui, Abundant decoration, Full polychrome, Eclectic mixing, Diagonal axis, Naturalistic depiction

Palette: #f4f1ea, #1d1b1a, #c9768e, #8e7aa8, #a9aaa5, #6f8a6b

Typefaces: Charles Rennie Mackintosh's attenuated hand lettering, ITC Rennie Mackintosh (Phill Grimshaw, 1996), Talwin Morris's book-cover lettering

Known for: Charles Rennie Mackintosh (The Scottish Musical Review poster, 1896); Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh; Frances Macdonald MacNair; Herbert MacNair; Jessie M. King; Talwin Morris (book covers for Blackie & Son); Francis 'Fra' Newbery, Glasgow School of Art

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Arts & Crafts Movement](https://stylogeny.com/styles/arts-and-crafts.md) (1860–1920)
- Influenced by: [Japonisme](https://stylogeny.com/styles/japonisme.md) (1860–1910)
- Influenced by: [Art Nouveau](https://stylogeny.com/styles/art-nouveau.md) (1890–1910)
- Alike in its design choices: [Vienna Secession](https://stylogeny.com/styles/vienna-secession.md) (1897–1918), 70% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Republican Chinese Book Cover Design (Lu Xun & Tao Yuanqing)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/republican-china-book-design.md) (1923–1949), 60% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Taishō Roman & Lyrical Illustration](https://stylogeny.com/styles/taisho-roman.md) (1910–1940), 58% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [L'Association and French Alternative Comics](https://stylogeny.com/styles/l-association-comics.md) (1990–present), 56% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Kamon (Japanese Family Crests)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/kamon.md) (c. 1100–present), 55% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Uli & Nsibidi Line and Sign Tradition](https://stylogeny.com/styles/uli-nsibidi.md) (1900–present), 53% alike

## Real works

- [The Scottish Musical Review (poster)](https://sammlungenonline.albertina.at/objects/153213): Charles Rennie Mackintosh (printed by Banks & Co., Edinburgh and Glasgow), 1896, Albertina, Vienna (DG2004/1919)
- [Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts (exhibition poster)](https://sammlungonline.mkg-hamburg.de/de/object/Glasgow+Institute+of+the+Fine+Arts/E1897.199/dc00063140): Charles Rennie Mackintosh (printed by Carter & Pratt, Glasgow), 1894 (MKG; often dated 1895), Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (E1897.199)
- [Album von Dresden und Sächsische Schweiz (front cover)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Globus_Album_von_Dresden_und_S%C3%A4chsische_Schweiz_01.jpg): Jessie M. King (cover design); Globus-Verlag, Berlin (publisher), c. 1900, Wikimedia Commons (uploader's own scan of a copy; holding institution not stated)
- [The Songs, Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare (cover for Mudie's Select Library)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Art_Nouveau_book_cover,_designed_by_Talwin_Morris.jpg): Talwin Morris, undated (c. 1895–1911), Glasgow School of Art Library (photograph via Wikimedia Commons)
- [R. L. Stevenson Memories (front cover)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cover_by_Jessie_King,_Robert_Louis_Stevenson_Memories._1912.jpg): Jessie M. King, October 1912, Wikimedia Commons (uploader's photograph of a copy; holding institution not stated)

## Sources

- Philip B. Meggs & Alston W. Purvis, Meggs' History of Graphic Design
- The Hunterian, University of Glasgow: Mackintosh collection (hunterian.gla.ac.uk)
- Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow: 'Mackintosh and the Glasgow Style' gallery

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Glasgow Style”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/glasgow-style/