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Craigie Aitchison (painter)
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Craigie Aitchison (painter)
John Ronald Craigie Aitchison CBE RSA RA (13 January 1926 – 21 December 2009) was a Scottish painter. He was best known for his many paintings of the Crucifixion, one of which hangs behind the altar in the chapter house of Liverpool Cathedral, Italian landscapes, and portraits (mainly of black men, or of dogs). His simple style with bright, childlike colours defied description, and was compared to the Scottish Colourists, primitivists or naive artists, although Brian Sewell dismissed him as "a painter of too considered trifles".
His career-long fascination with the crucifixion was triggered by a visit to see Salvador Dalí's Christ of St John of the Cross in 1951 after it was acquired by the Kelvingrove Gallery.
Aitchison was born in Edinburgh, the son of the lawyer, politician and judge Craigie Mason Aitchison. His grandfather, Reverend James Aitchison, was minister at the 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. His mother, Lady Aitchison, played international hockey. Her family owned Tulliallan, an estate in Fife, where Aitchison did some of his first landscape painting.
In the Second World War, Aitchison was rejected for military service 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 during 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. He returned to Scotland, but moved to Kennington in London in 1963.
Aitchison was one of "Six Young Contemporaries" at an exhibition at the Gimpel Fils gallery in 1954. His first solo exhibition was held at the Beaux Arts Gallery in London in 1959, and he held further solo exhibitions throughout the United Kingdom. He exhibited at Marlborough Fine Art in London in 1968. He was a part-time teacher 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.
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. He resigned from the Academy in 1997 in protest over the display of Marcus Harvey's work Myra, but rejoined in 1998.
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Craigie Aitchison (painter)
John Ronald Craigie Aitchison CBE RSA RA (13 January 1926 – 21 December 2009) was a Scottish painter. He was best known for his many paintings of the Crucifixion, one of which hangs behind the altar in the chapter house of Liverpool Cathedral, Italian landscapes, and portraits (mainly of black men, or of dogs). His simple style with bright, childlike colours defied description, and was compared to the Scottish Colourists, primitivists or naive artists, although Brian Sewell dismissed him as "a painter of too considered trifles".
His career-long fascination with the crucifixion was triggered by a visit to see Salvador Dalí's Christ of St John of the Cross in 1951 after it was acquired by the Kelvingrove Gallery.
Aitchison was born in Edinburgh, the son of the lawyer, politician and judge Craigie Mason Aitchison. His grandfather, Reverend James Aitchison, was minister at the 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. His mother, Lady Aitchison, played international hockey. Her family owned Tulliallan, an estate in Fife, where Aitchison did some of his first landscape painting.
In the Second World War, Aitchison was rejected for military service 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 during 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. He returned to Scotland, but moved to Kennington in London in 1963.
Aitchison was one of "Six Young Contemporaries" at an exhibition at the Gimpel Fils gallery in 1954. His first solo exhibition was held at the Beaux Arts Gallery in London in 1959, and he held further solo exhibitions throughout the United Kingdom. He exhibited at Marlborough Fine Art in London in 1968. He was a part-time teacher 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.
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. He resigned from the Academy in 1997 in protest over the display of Marcus Harvey's work Myra, but rejoined in 1998.