Details
- Name
Alison Brown
- Brief Biography
Glasgow Museums Staff, Curator European Decorative Art
- Occupation
Curator of Decorative Art: 1800-present
- Description
Alison Brown is Curator of Decorative Art and Design from 1800 to present at Glasgow Musuems, a position she has had since 1999. Her collection remit covers all aspects of design and the applied arts: furniture and interiors, ceramics, glass, stained glass, metalwork, book design and illustration, graphic design, and art and design education.
Her research and collections work has a with particular focus on design in Glasgow and the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh & the Glasgow Style; he arts and crafts, and design in Britain between 1860 and 1950. She has curated numerous collection displays across Glasgow Museums, including the Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow Style gallery, 400 Years of Scottish Glass and Utility – Rationalising Furniture Design all at Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery; and the architectural and educational history of Mackintosh’s Scotland Street School when she was project manager and curator for the school museum’s access development, building restoration and displays between 1999-2002. She has presented and lectured on Glasgow’s collections internationally.
Alison was the curator of the exhibition Charles Rennie Mackintosh - Making the Glasgow Style at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, the centrepiece of Glasgow’s 2018 celebrations programme for the 150th anniversary of Mackintosh’s birth. She curated the exhibition’s subsequent tour: adapted for the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool in 2019, and revised and retitled as Designing the New: Charles Rennie Mackintosh - Making the Glasgow Style for a four-museum tour in America from October 2019, and organised in partnership with the American Federation of Arts.
She is curator of the ongoing Ingram Street Tearooms research project, most recently working on the conservation and restoration of Mackintosh’s largest interior from this important site: The Oak Room of 1907–8. This project was a partnership between Glasgow Museums, V&A Dundee and Dundee City Council. The Oak Room is now on display in the Scottish Design Galleries at V&A Dundee, a long-term loan from Glasgow City Council’s collections.
Alison is the author of several books:
Designing the New: Charles Rennie Mackintosh - Making the Glasgow Style, Glasgow Museums & DelMonico Prestel, 2019
Charles Rennie Mackintosh - Making the Glasgow Style, Glasgow Museums, 2018
Glasgow’s Hidden Treasure: Charles Rennie Mackintosh ‘s Ingram Street Tearooms, Glasgow Museums, 2004
Contributing author of essays and chapters to a variety of journals and other publications, including Alphonse Mucha In Quest of Beauty, Mucha Foundation Publishing, 2015
Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Manifesto for a New Style, Kremlin Museums, Moscow, 2014
The Flower and the Green Leaf: Glasgow School of Art in the Time of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Luath Press, 2009- Collections
Jessie Marion King Curator
Fawsley Hall Collection Curator
Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow Style Curator
Ceramics by Jessie Marion King Curator
20th Century Scottish Glass Curator
Scottish Bottles and Flasks Curator
James Couper & Sons Curator
Scottish Furniture and Interiors 1800-1945 Curator
Metalwork by 'The Four' Curator
Works on Paper by 'The Four' Curator
Works on Paper by Jessie Marion King Curator
'The Four' Metalwork Curator
'The Four' Works on Paper Curator
Glasgow School of Art and Glasgow Style Textiles Curator
Charles Rennie Mackintosh Tea Rooms Curator
Scottish Ceramics Curator
Scottish Furniture and Interiors Curator
Scottish Stained Glass Curator
The Reformers, Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau Curator
European Furniture and Interiors Curator
Scottish Decorative Arts and Design Curator
European Decorative Arts and Design Curator
Art and Design Curator
Ingram Street Tea Rooms Curator
Tearoom Tableware and Ephemera Curator
Argyle Street Tea Rooms Curator
The Glasgow Style Furniture, Furnishings, Interiors and Architecture Curator
The Glasgow Style Furniture, Furnishings, Interiors and Architecture Curator
Bell's Pottery Curator
Scottish Studio and Art Pottery 1900-1945 Curator
Pollok House Furniture and Interiors Curator
The Hutton Rooms Furniture and Interiors Curator
The Glasgow Style Metalwork Curator
Charles Rennie Mackintosh Curator
Jessie Marion King Works on Paper Curator
Jessie Marion King Metalwork Curator
Jessie Marion King Ceramics Curator
Metalwork by Jessie Marion King Curator
19th Century Scottish Glass Curator
The Glasgow Style Paintings and Works on Paper Curator
The Glasgow Style Embroidery and Textiles Curator
The Glasgow Style Ceramics and Glass Curator
Wylie and Lochhead Curator
'The Four' Curator
Talwin Morris Curator