Craigie Aitchison b.1926Crucifixion 1984-86
Oil on canvas. 2209mm x 1879mm
Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, Birmingham
Craigie Aitchison b.1926Crucifixion 9 1987
Oil on canvas
support: 2147 x 1830 mm frame: 2382 x 2063 x 81 mm
Tate Britain, London
Craigie Aitchison b.1926Lily Still-Life 1974
Oil on canvas 76.20 x 63.50 cm
The National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
Aitchison has been painting the subject of the Crucifixion all his professional life. His first one man show in 1958 contained a small painting of the crucified Christ attended by two angels
The Crucifixes are partly inspired by altarpieces in Italian churches
While still an art student in London, Aitchison produced a copy of a painting by Georges Rouault of the subject that was to become such a frequent motif in his own work: the crucifixion. 'There was a terrible teacher there and--this provoked me--when he saw my Rouault copy he said, "Oh, that is far too serious a subject for you to tackle". He said, “I remember the exact words. Bloody hell! I went back to the lodgings and decided to do my own, as he'd been so damning.”
In Crucifixion 9, the setting is a hill called Goat Fell, on the Isle of Arran, a childhood holiday place. He said: “I loved being in Arran - it was the happiest time of my childhood and I still have an affinity with the island”.
In “Lily Still=Life”, the lily takes on a religious significance, due to the presence of the small Crucifixion in the background
His depictions of the Crucifixion, apparently simplistic, have a timeless and poetic quality.
He lives in Kennington, South London
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