Flower and butterfly

Details

Craigie Aitchison, R.A. (1926-2009)
Flower and butterfly
oil on canvas
12 x 10 in. (30.5 x 25.4 cm.)

Provenance

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner in 1985.

Literature

J. Kee, A Big Life, Melbourne, 2006, p. 259.

Special notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent. These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

Lot Essay

In her book A Big Life, Australian fashion designer Jenny Kee discusses how she acquired the present work on a visit to Craigie Aitchison's home in 1985: 'We also visited eccentric Scottish painter Craigie Aitchison in his eccentric little house, surrounded by his eccentric little paintings. He plied Grace with champagne and orange juice which she thought was wonderful, and spoke glowingly of his goddaughter (Michael [Andrews] and June's Melanie) in his strange, squeaky voice. We left with a slightly tipsy child and a Craigie Aitchison original' (op. cit., p. 259).

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