Charles Rennie Mackintosh
(1868–1928)

Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a Scottish architect, designer, water colourist and artist. His artistic approach had much in common with European Symbolism. His work, alongside that of his wife Margaret Macdonald, was influential on European design movements such as Art Nouveau and Secessionism and praised by great modernists such as Josef Hoffmann. Mackintosh was born in Glasgow and died in London. He is among the most important figures of Modern Style (British Art Nouveau style).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Rennie_Mackintosh

Mont Alba
Ca. 1924 - 1927
Watercolour on paper
38,7 x 43,8 cm
National Galleries Scotland
https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/1652

The view shown here is of a remote farm situated on a twisting road that leads south from Amélie-les-Bains, following the spectacular gorge of the river Montdony up into the mountains to the hamlet of Montalba. Typically, Mackintosh has chosen a high viewpoint, looking down on the scenery, omitting any glimpse of sky so that the hillside seems compressed 7into a series of shapes and exaggerated patterns. The lack of growth suggests that this is a winter scene, and the intricate folds and dents of the landscape are shown in sharp relief in a cool, bright sunlight. The colour scheme of soft greens, greys and pale pinks is enlivened by strips of vivid blue shadow. Mackintosh documents the terrain with painstaking care, but the sweep of his washes of watercolour and the dynamic lines formed by the twisting roads and cultivated terraces lend life and vigour to the composition. As in the best of his architecture, his sensitivity to detail is combined with an elegant sense of stylisation. In Mackintosh’s vision the forms of nature and the workings of man come together in an organic and pleasing harmony.