Collection: Craigie Aitchison   1926 - 2009 

Craigie Aitchison, born 1926, was a Scottish painter celebrated for his depictions of the Crucifixion and portraits, predominantly featuring black men or dogs, produced in vibrant, lurid colour and with childlike simplicity. Originally training as a lawyer in London, he returned to Edinburgh in 1950 to practice painting, later attending the Slade in the early 1950s.

After numerous joint shows across the 1960s and ‘70s, Aitchison was elected RA in 1988. Sacred works of his are held at the Gothic Revivalist Truro Cathedral in Cornwall, Liverpool Cathedral and King’s College, Cambridge. He was made a CBE in 1999 and several of his works are currently held in the Tate Gallery, for whom he designed a Christmas tree and card in 1992. Aitchison died in 2009.