Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928)
Sketch for a block of studios and flats for the Arts League of Service, Glebe Place, Chelsea
pencil and bodycolour on board
5 ¼ x 5 in. (13.3 x 12.7 cm.)

Estimate GBP 4,000 – GBP 6,000

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 W 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.

The sale is part of Christie’s auction – Victorian Pre-Raphaelite & British Impression Art at Kings Street, London on 11 July 2017