For several years now, our association has sought to accompany these days with a special event, to give them extra soul.
This year, the two days were preceded by a lecture by Catherine Blin, who had already spoken to us about Mackintosh furniture in films during the 2024 event. This time – surprise, surprise – with her usual creativity, she took us to the heart of India to evoke our artist through the improbable settings of the Manik Bagh Palace of Yeshwant Rao Holkar II Maharajah of Indore, a city in Madhya Pradesh, completed in 1933. This young Maharajah, educated in Great Britain, was passionate about Western art and became a friend and patron of the greatest avant-garde creators of the time.
Among them was Eckart Muthesius, a German architect who was none other than the godson of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Muthesius drew inspiration from CRM’s principles and style to design and decorate the palace.
The large audience greatly appreciated this exotic but nevertheless very relevant detour, which shed new light on the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
This first day was followed by a notable influx of visitors to our centre in Port-Vendres. Judge for yourself: on Friday 19th September, there were more than 35 people attending the conference, on Saturday 20th September, 20 visitors, and on Sunday 21st September, 31 visitors.