Catalogue of exhibits continued

10. JOHN EDNIE for WYLIE AND LOCHHEAD: A GLASGOW STYLE, INLAID OAK BEDROOM SUITE, circa 1901.

Robert Wylie and William Lochhead formed their 
successful cabinet making firm in 1829. By the 1880’s they employed over 1,700 people with workshops, showrooms and warehouses throughout Glasgow. By the turn of the century they had become a household name throughout Scotland for furnishing, artistic design and high quality craftsmanship. They also had branches in London and Manchester and numerous agents and buyers across Europe and the Empire.

This strong position allowed the firm in 1900 to move quickly to supply the emerging demand created by the designs of George Walton, the Glasgow Four (Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Herbert MacNair, Margaret and Frances MacDonald) and the success of Miss Cranston’s famous tea rooms. Indeed the sheer size of the firm with its huge marketing and manufacturing skills allowed it to make the ‘Glasgow Style’ truly popular and available to a large market.

They spared no expense to secure the best talent in the art market and, with the close association they had developed with the city colleges (there was a W&L prize for furniture design), they remained closely in touch with the stylistic developments that were taking place.

Wylie & Lochhead’s three key designers in this period were E A Taylor, who became their chief designer, John Ednie and George Logan. Indeed, the work of these three was of such quality that, at the Turin International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art in 1902, it was displayed alongside The Glasgow Four and other leading designers of the Glasgow Style.

JOHN EDNIE attended the Edinburgh School of Art and trained as an architect with the Heriot Watt College in Edinburgh before joining Wylie & Lochhead in 1900, gaining commercial experience with the architect, John Kinross and with Scott Morton & Co, an Edinburgh decorator. According to The Studio, he came to Glasgow ‘early in the history of the “modern Renaissance” and from the beginning was strongly identified with it’. Like Taylor, he was influenced by Baillie Scott, some of whose furniture was also sold by Wylie & Lochhead, but the main source of his inspiration was Mackintosh. Ednie, along with Taylor and Logan, was prepared to incorporate the work of other artists and craftsmen in his schemes and his innovative designs have more often than not been lost behind corporate anonymity. Even The Studio magazine wrongly 
attributed some of his designs to E A Taylor and misspelt his name on numerous occasions. In 1905, he left Wylie & Lochhead and set up on his own as an architect, interior designer and decorator, his ‘poetic 
temperament ill-suited to the confines of such a colossal commercial firm’. More importantly both he and Taylor were at odds with the firm. Their work represented a statement on a subject on which they did not wish to compromise, confirmed by their membership of the Scottish Guild of Handicrafts. In 1908, he was appointed Art Superintendent at the Glasgow & West of Scotland Technical College. In 1926 Ednie moved to London and, two years later, went to Cairo where he accepted an appointment as the Director of the Art School.

This suite is illustrated in Gerald and Celia Larner’s seminal book, ‘The Glasgow Style’, 1979. The Larners point out that Wylie & Lochhead sold bedroom suites for up to £250, a large sum of money by Edwardian 
standards, and it would have been cheaper to have commissioned an exclusive design by C R Mackintosh.

10.1 An oak three door wardrobe with inlaid wavy line, hearts and flowers to the cornice and centre of the doors, each door having two recessed panels edged with ebony and boxwood chequer inlay with stained glass to the upper panels, the central glass panel depicting a stylised Glasgow rose and the flanking glass panels depicting plump, flying birds and foliage, the two door section enclosing hanging space with good brass fitments and a single long drawer and the single right hand door enclosing hanging space with good brass fitments and two short drawers, impressed makers stamp Wylie and Lochhead Ltd, Glasgow, to the back. 213cms (84ins) high, 189cms (74.5ins) wide and 54cms (21.25ins) deep.

10.2 An oak cheval mirror on castors with inlaid mahogany and ebony lines to the uprights and the mirror framed with chequered inlay, the cornice inlaid with wavy line, hearts and flowers. 176.5cms (69.5ins) high, 83cms (32.5ins) wide and 43cms (17ins) deep. 

10.3 An oak bedside cupboard with chequered inlay to the door and cornice with inlaid wavy line, hearts and flowers. 91cms (35.75ins) high, 42.5cms (16.75ins) wide and 42cms (16.5ins) deep.

10.4 An oak dressing chest comprising two drawers above one long drawer, all drawers and the mirror with chequered inlay, the mirror supported by cabinets either side with stained glass panels to the doors depicting mushrooms and the tops of the cabinets inlaid with a wavy line, hearts and flowers, the brass handles having repoussé back plates with inverted heart motif and the cabinets having brass heart shaped escutcheons. 
138cms (54.5ins) high, 130cms (51.25ins) wide and 56cms (22ins) deep.

10.5 An oak double bed, the headboard inlaid with wavy line, hearts and flowers to the cornice and two oblong chequered edged panels, the top panel having two inset stained glass panels depicting stylised snowdrops, the footboard having inlaid wavy line, hearts and flowers to the cornice above three recessed panels edged with chequer board inlay and boldly sculpted stylised roses to the stiles, showing Ednie’s distinctive interest in the three-dimensional. 135cms (53ins) high, 158cms (62ins) wide and 202cms (79.5ins) long, mattress size 150cms (59ins) wide and 199.5cms (78.5ins) long.

10.6 An oak chest of drawers comprising two short drawers above two long drawers all with chequered inlay, the gallery inlaid with a wavy line, hearts and flowers, the brass handles having repoussé back plates with inverted heart motif. 81cms (32ins) high, 110cms (43.25ins) wide and 53cms (21ins) deep. 

10.7 An oak towel rail with chequered inlay to the stepped sides. 91.5cms (36ins) high 89cms (35ins) wide and 25.5(10ins) deep. Picture right.

10.8 Three oak bedroom chairs with chequered inlay to the central back panel, the front, back and sides having arched frame with the seats, tapering to the back, upholstered in original fabric. 84cms (33ins) high.

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