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The Palette  Year 1922    Page: 12
 
 The Glasgow School of Art By G. Goldie Killin
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THE GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART

BY G. GOLDIE KILLIN
 
IN October of the year 1753, an Academy of the Fine Arts was opened in rooms in the Library of the Old University, High Street, Glasgow. This represented the materialisation of a long and cherished dream of two brothers, Robert and Andrew Foulis, Master Printers, and authors of those specimens of printing which have made the Foulis Press historical. The brothers were supported in their laudable and public-spirited enterprise by Mr. Campbell of Clathic, Mr. Glassford of Dougalston, and later by Mr. Archibald Ingram, all three merchants of Glasgow.

A painter, a sculptor, an engraver and a copper plate printer were engaged, and proceedings commenced. From the first the scheme met with nothing but disapproval, and the citizens who should have supported it held aloof and predicted failure.' In 1759, exhibitions of the works of students were held in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and in 1770, a second and more successful exhibition was held in the open air in the inner court of the College. Gradually, however, from various causes, death of patrons, lack of money and public Support, the Academy decayed, until in 1775, after involving its founders in financial ruin, it came to an untimely end.

For a period of sixty-five years art education in Glasgow languished. During those years British design as applied to all manufactures was greatly inferior to that of other countries, but a very marked superiority was maintained on the purely mechanical side of production. There was danger of foreign nations slowly attaining to our excellence of mechanical production while we were doing nothing to improve the artistic quality of our goods. A very strong national prejudice existed in favour of foreign art and foreign artists, but the utility of Government Schools of Design was urged widely in public documents and supported by votes of Parliament, and this led to their establishment. The purpose of the schools was not to create a new class but to educate the existing classes, and particularly factory operatives (from which class came at first the largest number of students), in the principles of design and to aid them in the cultivation of artistic taste.

Manufacturers, on finding the schools devoted, not to the mere turning-out of patterns, but to the larger purpose of training the student in the knowledge of art and principles of design, condemned them as being merely Drawing Schools with no practical application to trade. With a fuller knowledge of their working and application, however, came a just and widespread appreciation.

In the year 1840 several leading citizens of Glasgow, a flourishing centre for textile manufactures, founded the institution called the Glasgow Government School of Design. The following is set forth in No. 2 of the Laws and Regulations governing its inauguration: —

“The school shall be strictly a School of Ornamental Design, with a view to the improvement of our National Manufactures, and more especially those manufactures immediately connected with the prosperity of Glasgow. To this object the students shall have their attention directed.” In 1842 it was recognised by the Board of Trade as The Glasgow Government School of Design, and in 1852 was transferred to the Science and Art Department of the Committee of Council on Education.

The first school premises were in Ingram Street, but in a few months their limited accommodation was found to be totally inadequate for the five hundred and seventy-six students enrolled. Gradually the enrolments increased, until in 1869, eleven hundred and sixty-four students were in attendance. In this year the school was removed to the
The Palette  Year 1922    Page: 14
 
 The Glasgow School of Art By G. Goldie Killin
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DELILAH AND THE PHILISTINES

JESSIE I. GARROW
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Corporation Buildings in Sauchiehall Street, where it was housed for thirty years Under a bequest of James Haldane, engraver in Glasgow, the school benefited very greatly, the condition being that it be called “The Glasgow School of Art and Haldane Academy.”

In those limited premises an amazing amount of work was produced, particularly in the Design Section. The standard of excellence may be judged by the fact that, in the National Competitions for which works had to be sent to South Kensington, a goodly proportion of gold, bronze, and silver medals and other prizes were awarded to the Glasgow School. Though established primarily as a School of Design, in 1850 the Committee sanctioned the formation of a class for the living male model. In 1879 there were from seven to nine life classes weekly, while in 1885 the arrangements for life classes are reported as being the most complete in the kingdom, with the single exception of South Kensington.

As might be expected, the majority of students attending school in its early years were employed in textile designing, but in such a large city there were many students desirous of following a wider course of study, and much was done to aid students of architecture, also decorative painters, glass painters, designers in various metals, carvers in wood and stone, china painters, modellers, die-sinkers, engravers, and lithographers, and, prior to the establishment by the city of an adequate system of technical education, in machine construction and building construction.

In 1892 the governing body was made representative of the principal public bodies of the city, and the school was registered under the Companies Act under the title of “The Glasgow School of Art”.

Gradually the nature of the activities of the school had changed. When first established the control of art education in Scotland was in the hands of the authorities at South Kensington, and the character of the work required by that Department differed in almost every respect from that now prevailing under the more comprehensive system permitted by the Scottish Education Department, to which it was transferred in 1901. Not only had the scope of study been enlarged, but conditions attached to the production of work had entirely altered. The area of the school’s influence had increased in a remarkable manner, and, from being a local institution with purposes and aims calculated to meet the demands of an examining body in London, the school had become a Central Institution with a field of
The Palette  Year 1922    Page: 15
 
 The Glasgow School of Art By G. Goldie Killin
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LINOLEUM BLOCK

M. HAGGO
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work which embraced, not only the City of Glasgow, but extended over twelve adjacent counties.

The School Board of Glasgow, by providing elementary instruction in drawing in its well-equipped schools and by the establishment of evening classes in drawing, had caused a large decrease in the number of students attending the School of Art. It was recognised, however, that the elementary schools would act as feeders to the Central School. Diplomas were granted by the school in the four sections of work: — Drawing and Painting, Modelling and Sculpture, Design and Decorative Art, and Architecture. These were recognised by the Scottish Education Department as certificates of professional capacity. Thus was organised a complete and progressive system of art education, beginning with the lowest classes of the Primary Schools, leading on to the School of Art, and thence back to the schools as teachers of art. The School of Art was responsible for the training of teachers in the special subject of art, and classes were held for the further instruction of Day School Teachers in advanced art subjects.

Arrangements were made between the Governors of the School of Art and the Governors of the Technical College whereby architectural students might receive part of their training in the School of Art and part in the Technical College. The organisation was called “The Glasgow School of Architecture,” and its affairs managed by a joint committee of Governors chosen from the two bodies. A joint scheme for art instruction to textile workers between the School of Art and the Technical College was also arranged.

A grant of money from the Town Council enabled the school to carry out a long-cherished plan, and instruction was begun in glass-staining, pottery, repoussé, and metal work, wood-carving, bookbinding, and artistic needlework, which formed the beginning of the present extensive crafts section of the school.

To deal with all this it was felt that more commodious premises were required. In 1894 the Governors began to collect public subscriptions for the erection of a new building. Grants were received from various public bodies and a free site given by the Bellahouston Trustees. The staff and students, friends, the Governors, and the citizens made contributions.
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 The Glasgow School of Art By G. Goldie Killin
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Building was begun, and part of the school was formally opened by Sir James King, Bart, on the 20th December, 1899.

In 1906 the further growth and development of the school made the completion of the building a necessity. The Department made a generous grant and this was supplemented by donations from various bodies. Operations were again begun in November, 1909. The Architects for the completed building were Messrs. Honeyman, Keppie & Mackintosh, and the school was formally opened as a complete building on Wednesday, 15th December, 1909. The ceremony was performed by the Chairman of the Board of Governors, Sir James Fleming, in the presence of the Lord Provost, the Magistrates, and a large gathering representative of the Scottish Education Department, and many other interested bodies, also subscribers and friends with the staff and students of the school.

Thus was this well-equipped building, far beyond the brightest dreams of the Foulis brothers, formally opened amidst the plaudits of an enthusiastic populace, and recognised by them as a vital necessity. How different from the reception accorded the ill-starred enterprise of the Foulis Brothers just one hundred and fifty-six years before.

In this year, as successor to Mr. Catterns, Mr. John M. Groundwater was appointed Secretary and Treasurer. Mr. Groundwater still holds this office, and to his unflagging interest, industry, and capable management the school is indebted for much of its present sound financial standing.

To the building up of the present school has gone the wholehearted endeavour of many able men. The first Director was Mr. Heath Wilson, then Mr. Robert Greenlees, Mr. Thomas C. Simmonds, and Mr. Francis H. Newbury. During the latter’s long tenure of office, his unfailing zeal and enthusiasm for the advancement of the school, as well as his very remarkable abilities were responsible in no small measure for the high place the school had come to take among the Educational Institutions of the Kingdom. On his retirement, due to ill-health, Mr. John Henderson, the present Director, who for several years had represented The Haldane Trust on the Board of Governors, was appointed.

On the governing side the school has been aided by many eminent men. The first President of Committee was Archibald Alison, Esq., Sheriff of Lanarkshire, F.R.S.E. Mr. James Hannan, Mr. James Sellars, Architect, and Sir James Fleming are names closely associated with the governing body of the school.

On the death of Sir James Fleming, Chairman for twenty-eight years, during which he made the welfare and progress of the school his particular aim and object, Mr. Patrick S. Dunn was unanimously elected to guide the affairs of the school. Mr. Dunn has for twenty-eight years as a Governor and for seven years as Chairman of the Board of Governors been in no small degree responsible for the growth and continued prosperity of the school, to which he devotes so much of his time and energies.

It is not within the scope of this necessarily curtailed article to enlarge upon all the famous artists who received their early training at the Glasgow School of Art. Suffice it to mention Sir W. Q. Orchardson, John Pettie, John McWhirter, Joseph Henderson, James Docherty, Colin Hunter, and numerous prominent artists of the present day.

The school still has difficulties to face, but trouble is only an incident of growth which makes for greater virility, and Governors, Director, Staff, and students are now working together to maintain the traditions of the past and develop the opportunities of the present.