Craigie Aitchison: Italian and other Paintiongs

21 Nov — 21 Dec 2001

Waddington Galleries and Timothy Taylor Gallery are pleased to present an exhibition of recent paintings by Craigie Aitchison. The works shown comprise portraits, landscapes, still lives and crucifixions, many of which were painted earlier this year at Aitchison's home at Montecastelli, Italy.

Aitchison pares down his subject matter into a subtle play of contrasting form and colour. As Andrew Gibbon-Williams wrote in his monograph on the artist: Each picture depends for its impact on precise arranging of shapes, tones and colours, and this synthesis is arrived at painstakingly. Aitchison's familiar motifs such as single flowers, birds, dogs and sheep continue to appear in his recent work.

Craigie Aitchison was born in Edinburgh in 1926 the younger son of a leading Scottish lawyer and a mother who from an early age encouraged Craigie's artistic interests. After initially following in his father's footsteps and spending time training to become a lawyer he abandoned this career and entered the Slade School of Art in 1952; fellow students included Myles Murphy and Euan Uglow.

Aitchison's work was first shown in a group show at Gimpel Fils in 1954, and his first one man show was at the Beaux Arts Gallery in 1959. Since then he has exhibited widely in the United Kingdom, and overseas in locations as diverse as Tokyo, Delhi and Jerusalem. In 1953, during his second year at the Slade, he won the prize for the best still life and two years later he was awarded the British Council Italian Government Scholarship to Rome. In the intervening years he has received many awards, including the Jerwood Prize in 1994. In 1998 he completed a major commission for Liverpool Cathedral.