Illustration: Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott. Landscape wallpaper frieze, c1895.
Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott the British architect and designer is perhaps much better known for his architectural work, closely followed by his work in the design world, in particular his instinctively crafted furniture design. However, Baillie Scott also managed to produce both textile and wallpaper design work particularly during the two decades that spanned the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century.
Baillie Scott produced all the wallpaper design work shown in this article in around 1895. Although with elements that seem derivative of some of the more popular European wallpaper design work, particularly that from France, the examples shown do still have an interesting and individual approach to wallpaper design.
Illustration: Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott. Kingswood wallpaper design, c1895.
Baillie Scott although of Scottish ancestry was born in Kent. In 1889, he married and moved to the Isle of Man. Here he came into contact with Archibald Knox and though Baillie Scott was a practicing architect on the island, he also collaborated on a number of design projects with Knox. It is also at this point that the wallpaper designs were produced. It is fair to say that both the Isle of Man and Knox must have influenced the decorative aspects of these wallpaper designs, even if partially.
Baillie Scott was influenced to a large degree by the British Arts & Crafts movement. Although when starting his career he was involved with a number of projects that had Victorian interpretations of medievalism at their core, he later developed an affinity to a much simpler and clearer perspective regarding design work, seeing functionality and honesty in materials as being of overriding concern when dealing with architecture and design.
Illustration: Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott. Tropical wallpaper design, c1895.
It could be said with some reason, that these wallpaper designs do not necessarily fall into the remit of functionality and honesty, as they are after all purely decorative and serve no real overriding practical purpose within interiors. However, within the framework of wallpaper design, the examples have been relatively simplified and seem to have taken at least a modicum of effort in trying to harmonise with their potential surroundings.
What is interesting is how indistinct the repeat pattern seems to be, at least within some of the wallpaper examples. Willow is a particularly good example and verges on a simplified landscape mural, rather than that of the more usual traditional British wallpaper. There is also an element of humour as can be seen in the staircase wallpaper which has made no attempt to step or stagger its way along, but has taken a direct diagonal form, pitching water, trees and swans at a particularly scary angle.
Illustration: Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott. Swan staircase wallpaper design, c1895.
It was not unusual for architects to be involved in the design and decorative process during this era. Many wished to be involved in all aspects of exterior and interior design. Therefore, they often produced furniture, textiles, rugs, metalwork, stained glass and wallpaper, as did Baillie Scott. These were either side projects or were intimately involved within a particular building project whereby all aspects of the house would be designed by one individual, or at least overseen by that individual.
Being trained as an architect first, rather than that of a decorative designer or artist, gave a particular emphasis on the design work that was unique to the profession. The same is true when any designer or artist produces work in another discipline or field that they are either unfamiliar with or have no preconceived parameters. This often works well and can produce results that take the genre into another unique and often personalised direction. There can even be a form of blending of disciplines, which can produce a form of multi-layered styling that is more versatile than the norm. Not that the results of cross-discipline work is always successful. There are many examples where it is plain to see that lack of experience in an unfamiliar discipline can produce poor, unfocused results that can please no one. However, in this case, it seems as if Baillie Scott knew what he was doing, was comfortable with both the subject matter and the discipline, and good results were achieved.
Illustration: Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott. Willow wallpaper design, c1895.
Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott: An Architectural History
Houses and Gardens
Two houses in Fife: A comparative analysis of Baillie Scott's Sandford Cottage & Lorimer's Wayside
Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott
**REPRINT** Scott, M. H. Baillie (Mackay Hugh Baillie), 1865-1945. Houses and gardens, by M. H. Baillie Scott. London, G. Newnes, limited, 1906.**REPRINT**
International Arts and Crafts
Twentieth-Century Pattern Design
Arts & Crafts Movement (Art of Century)
Art Nouveau
The Arts & Crafts Movement
The Arts & Crafts Companion
The Arts and crafts movement
Arts & Crafts Design
The Arts and Crafts Movement (World of Art)
Textiles of the Arts and Crafts Movement
The Arts and Crafts Movement in Europe and America: Design for the Modern World 1880-1920
