Craigie Aitchison (1926 - 2009) was a Scottish painter best known for his rich, colour-stained canvases. He was also a distinquished printmaker. His work displays a fascination for crucifixion scenes, small dogs, horses, and still lifes, all set within sparse, luminous landscapes that have an overall transparent glow. In common with painters as varied as Piero Della Francesca, Milton Avery and William Blake, Aitchison’s paintings have a mystical quality.
Aitchison first read law at Edinburgh University before switching to painting, which he studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. The artist became an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1978 and had several retrospectives of his work exhibited during his lifetime including at the Serpentine Gallery in London, Harewood House in Leeds and the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow. His works are in the collections of the National Galleries of Scotland, the Tate Gallery in London, and the National Museum Wales in Cardiff.