Craigie Aitchison (painter)

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Craigie Aitchison
Aitchison in April 1989.
Born(1926-01-13)13 January 1926
Edinburgh, Scotland
Died21 December 2009(2009-12-21) (aged 83)
OccupationPainter

John Ronald Craigie Aitchison

naive artists, although Brian Sewell dismissed him as "a painter of too considered trifles".[1]

His career-long fascination with the crucifixion was triggered by a visit to see

Kelvingrove Gallery.[4]

Early life and education

Aitchison was born in

United Free Church Erskine Kirk in Falkirk. Aitchison was educated at Loretto School, Musselburgh, East Lothian until the death of his father in 1941 and then at home by private tutors.[6] His mother, Lady Aitchison, played international hockey.[7] Her family owned Tulliallan, an estate in Fife
, where Aitchison did some of his first landscape painting.

He was rejected for military service in the Second World War on medical grounds. He studied law at

Edinburgh University from 1944 to 1946, and at the Middle Temple in London in 1948, before changing career. He returned to Edinburgh in 1950 to practise painting in a converted mews house in Church Lane, and then studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London from 1952 to 1954 under William Coldstream and Robert Medley. Aitchison won a prize for the best still life his second year. Fellow students included Michael Andrews, Tony Pacitti, Philip Sutton, Victor Willing, Paula Rego, Myles Murphy and Euan Uglow
. Aitchison remained friends with Uglow, and was best man at his wedding.

Aitchison was awarded a British Council scholarship in 1955 to study in Italy. He toured the country, and was influenced by early Italian painting, particularly Piero della Francesca.[5] He returned to Scotland, but moved to Kennington in London in 1963.

Career

Early work

Aitchison was one of "Six Young Contemporaries" at an exhibition at the

Chelsea School of Art
from 1968 to 1984.

His paintings were included in many group shows around the world from 1964, and in three retrospective exhibitions.[8]

Mature work

Aitchison became an Associate of the

Royal Academy in 1978, and was elected as one of the 80 Members of the Royal Academy (or Royal Academicians) in 1988.[8] He resigned from the Academy in 1997 in protest over the display of Marcus Harvey's work Myra,[9] but rejoined in 1998.[10]

In 1996 he was commissioned to paint a mural of Calvary – a landscape illuminated by a mystical light – for the Gothic Revivalist Truro Cathedral in Cornwall. In 1997, he was commissioned to paint Calvary for Liverpool Cathedral, and he created a design for a Christmas stamp for the Royal Mail in 1999. Further sacred works by Aitchison are held the chapel of King's College, Cambridge.

Retrospectives of his work were held at the

Commander of the Order of the British Empire
(CBE) in 1999.

Several of his works are held in the collection of the

National Galleries of Scotland[14]
also own works.

Personal life

Aitchison lived and worked in London and in Italy. When in London, he lived in Kennington, where he occupied the same Victorian town house for 35 years. He bought Wayney, the first of his woolly Bedlington Terriers, from Crufts in 1971. He continued to own Bedlington Terriers over a 28-year period; in the later part of his life he owned three. They featured in a number of his paintings.[15]

References

  1. ^ a b c Craigie, Aitchison (21 December 2009). "Obituary". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
  2. ISBN 1-84165-155-9
  3. ISBN 1-904099-00-9
  4. ^ Full catalogue entry for Crucifixion 9, Tate Gallery
  5. ^ a b The British Council: Craigie Aitchison Archived 8 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Obituary, Guardian, 22 December 2009
  7. ^ Gardner, Anthony. Is the painter of crucifixions and Bedlington Terriers a visionary or just an eccentric? The Telegraph Magazine, 2003. http://www.anthonygardner.co.uk/interviews_pdfs/craigie_aitchison.pdf. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
  8. ^ a b Royal Academy: Craigie Aitchison
  9. ISBN 1-85984-721-8
  10. ^ racollection.org.uk. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
  11. ^ tate.org
  12. ^ Christmas Tree 1992: Craigie Aitchison
  13. ^ bmagic.org.uk
  14. ^ nationalgalleries.org
  15. ^ Gayford, Martin. Dog Days Archived 11 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine Apollo, 1 January 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2009.

Bibliography

  • Craigie Aitchison: Out of the Ordinary, Andrew Lambirth, Royal Academy of Arts (2003)
  • Craigie: The Art of Craigie Aitchison, Andrew Gibbon-Williams, Canongate Books Ltd. (2001)
  • Craigie Aitchison paintings 1953–1981, Arts Council of Great Britain (1981)
  • Craigie Aitchison Recent Work, Paul Levy, Waddington Galleries, Catalogue (27 Oct 2006)
  • The First Miracle, Jeffrey Archer(Author), Craigie Aitchison(Illustrator), HarperCollins (1994)
  • Craigie Aitchison: Prints: A Catalogue Raisonné, Andrew Lambirth, Royal Academy of Arts (1 Jun 2013))
  • Craigie Atchison, 'Fragments from a Conversation' [with Patrick Swift], X magazine, Vol. 1, No. 4 (October 1960); An Anthology from X, Oxford University Press (1988)

External links

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