About this artwork
This is among Aitchison’s first paintings of the lily, one of the artist’s favourite flowers due to its simple and elegant shape. The painting is primarily a still life, dominated by the single flower in a vase, yet it also contains both landscape and religious elements. The lily takes on a religious significance, due to the presence of the small Crucifixion in the background. Yet the composition remains simple and balanced, with echoes of shapes and tones throughout the painting. The pink triangular cloth on which the vase sits reflects the shape of the hill in the background and the coloured line beneath, and the artist has balanced the intense red with a patterned vase and a landscape view, without any one element dominating.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Craigie Aitchison (1926 - 2009) Scottish
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title:Lily Still-Life
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date created:1974
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materials:Oil on canvas
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measurements:76.20 x 63.50 cm; Framed: 109.40 x 96.70 x 4.50 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased 1975
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accession number:GMA 1501
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gallery:
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subject:
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artwork photographed by:Antonia Reeve
Craigie Aitchison
Craigie Aitchison
Craigie Aitchison was born in Kincardie-on-Forth, and grew up in Dunbartonshire and on the Island of Arran. He studied law but later turned to art, attending the Slade School of Fine Art in London. His paintings are renowned for their sparse but balanced composition and for the use of intense, pure...