Peter Trowles
15th April 2026 @ 10.30am
When Charles Rennie Mackintosh died in 1928 his passing and the work he created went by virtually unannounced, as did the deaths and creative outputs of many of his Glasgow contemporaries. Together these individuals had established their home city as one of the most progressive art, design, and architectural centres in Europe at the very beginning of the 20th century.
Not altogether surprisingly, the same fate befell many of Mackintosh’s European colleagues who were responsible for what we have since collectively called ‘Art Nouveau’. Now, two decades into the 21st century there is a strong renewed interest in this decorative work, both from the academic community and from the wider general public. And this interest now stretches far beyond the obvious cultural centres of Paris, Brussels, and Barcelona for instance and along with Glasgow, now embraces many far smaller destinations spread across mainland Europe; destinations that in themselves have an important role to play in the re-emergence of this popular style.
Peter Trowles
Peter has spent his career working in the fields of art and culture. A graduate of the University of St Andrews, he was Curator at Glasgow School of Art for 30 years, overseeing the heritage of the renowned Charles Rennie Mackintosh building and its important collections. Over the years, he has curated art, design and architectural exhibitions worldwide, contributed to multiple books and journals, and been an invited speaker at numerous international conferences. In 1999, he helped set up the EU-funded Réseau Art Nouveau Network – a project linking European cities with an art nouveau legacy and was formerly the Network’s President.