- Craigie Aitchison (painter)
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For other people named Craigie Aitchison, see Craigie Aitchison (disambiguation).
Craigie Aitchison, RA, CBE (13 January 1926 – 21 December 2009) was a Scottish painter.[1] He was known for his many paintings of the Crucifixion,[2] one of which hangs behind the altar in the chapter house of Liverpool Cathedral.[3]
Contents
Education
He was born in Kincardine-on-Forth, Scotland, the son of the lawyer, politician and judge Craigie Mason Aitchison.[4] He was educated at the Edinburgh Academy school. He studied law at Edinburgh University from 1944–46 and at the Middle Temple in London in 1948,[5] before changing career and studying at the Slade School of Fine Art in London from 1952 to 1954.
In 1955 he was awarded a British Council scholarship to study in Italy, where he was particularly influenced by early Italian painting.[4]
He was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Arts) from the University of Bath in 2009.
Career
Early work
His first solo exhibition was held in London in 1959,[citation needed] and he held further solo exhibitions throughout the United Kingdom.[citation needed] In the early 1960s he contributed, along with artists such as Michael Andrews, Bacon and Freud to the influential ‘X’ magazine, founded by the painter Patrick Swift. His paintings were included in many group shows around the world from 1964, and in three retrospective exhibitions.[6]
Mature work
Aitchison became an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1978, and in 1988 he was elected as one of the 80 Members of the Royal Academy (or Royal Academicians).[6] He resigned from the Academy in 1997 in protest over the display of Marcus Harvey's work Myra,[7] but rejoined in 1998.[8] He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1999.
Several of his works are held in the collection of the Tate Gallery.[9] Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery[10] and the National Galleries of Scotland[11] also own works.
Personal life
He 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. Another element of continuity in his personal life was ownership over a 28-year period of Bedlington terriers. In the latter part of his life he owned three. They featured in a number of his paintings.[12]
Aitchison was probably bi-sexual. He had affairs with members of both sexes. There were talks of a marriage with his closest companion, Bohemian aristocrat Alex Mayall.[13]
References
- ^ Craigie, Aitchison (21 December 2009). "Obituary". Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/6860258/Craigie-Aitchison.html. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
- ^ Jenni Davis, Sacred Art, Jarrold Publishing, 2005, p22. ISBN 1-84165-155-9
- ^ Arabella McIntyre-Brown, Liverpool: The First 1000 Years, Capsica Ltd., 2001, p123. ISBN 1-904099-00-9
- ^ a b The British Council: Craigie Aitchison
- ^ Tate gallery: Carigie Aitchison
- ^ a b Royal Academy: Craigie Aitchison
- ^ Julian Stallabrass, High Art Lite: British Art in the 1990s, Verso, 1999, p208. ISBN 1-85984-721-8
- ^ racollection.org.uk, accessed 5 October 2007.
- ^ tate.org
- ^ bmagic.org.uk
- ^ nationalgalleries.org
- ^ Gayford, Martin. Dog Days Apollo (magazine), 2009-01-01. Retrieved on 2009-06-08.
- ^ 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 on 2009-12-22.
External links
Categories:- 1926 births
- 2009 deaths
- Scottish painters
- People from Edinburgh
- Alumni of the Slade School of Art
- Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
- Royal Academicians
- LGBT people from the United Kingdom
- Edinburgh Academicals
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