Timothy Taylor Gallery

Craigie Aitchison is known and admired for the Mediterranean intensity of his palette, his flat, almost two-dimensional forms and simple icon-like compositions. His distinctive subject matter consisting of still lifes, landscapes, portraits, nudes, Bedlington terriers and sheep, as well as crucifixions, are all rendered in vibrant, luminous colour, and powerfully invoke both the early Italian Renaissance as well as the British visionary tradition.

Born in Edinburgh in 1926, Aitchison became active on the London art scene in the 1950s studying at the Slade School of Art after abandoning training to be a lawyer. His fellow students at the Slade included Michael Andrews and Euan Uglow. In 1955 he travelled to Italy after being awarded the British Council Italian Government Scholarship for painting. He died in December 2009.

Aitchison was elected a Royal Academician in 1988, won the inaugural Jerwood Prize for painting in 1994, and in 1999 was awarded a CBE for his contribution to British Art. Past solo exhibitions include Kettle’s Yard Gallery, Cambridge, 1979; an Arts Council retrospective at the Serpentine Gallery, London, 1981; Craigie: The Art of Craigie Aitchison at the GoMA in Glasgow, 1996. In 2006, Aitchison curated an exhibition of his late best friend, Euan Uglow at the Holborne Museum in Bath. A major retrospective of Aitchison’s work was held at the Royal Academy in 2003, and he continues to exhibit widely in the UK and internationally. Recent solo exhibitions include Craigie Aitchison: Paintings at Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, 2008; Craigie Aitchison at Waddington Galleries, London, 2006; Craigie Aitchison: The Prints 1969 – 2008 at Abbott Hall in Kendall, Cumbria 2008; and The Art of Craigie Aitchison at the Paul Smith Space in Tokyo, 2008. In 2009, Aitchison received an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from the University of Bath.

Download full biography (0kb)

View editions by Estate of Craigie Aitchison

View publications by Estate of Craigie Aitchison

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•