The 19th/20th centuries saw Glasgow build on its rich industrial heritage and flourish as a centre for the arts. Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson and Rennie Mackintosh carried the architectural torch, the ‘Glasgow Boys’ and Colourists the artistic. Glasgow was a true ‘powerhouse’ of the arts, manufacture, trade and wealth.

This talk will explore the city’s rise to be the ‘the second city of Empire’ with a focus on the later 19th and early 20th centuries; the architecture of Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson, the painting of the Glasgow Boys (c1870s-80s) and the architecture and design of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Frances and Margaret Macdonald, Herbert McNair (‘the Four’) and their Contemporaries.  

Dr Evelyn Silber has lived in Glasgow for many years, has authored several heritage trails and leads specialist cultural tours of the area. She is a former Director of the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery at the University of Glasgow and former Chair of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society and Chair of the Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel which evaluates Treasure Trove finds.

Lecture by Evelyn Silber

The Arts Society Dumfries and Galloway (TASDAG), formerly The South West Scotland Decorative and Fine Arts Society, was founded in 1991 and is a Member Society of the The Arts Society, whose headquarters are in London.

The Arts Society is an arts based charity founded in 1968 by Patricia Fay, whose aim is the advancement of arts education and its appreciation and the preservation of our artistic heritage.

These aims are promoted by lectures, given by a list of 365 accredited lecturers, on fine and decorative arts in their widest sense including artists and their paintings, sculpture, china, furniture, fabrics, architecture, archaeology, film and media, music, ballet and much more.