George Aikman
ARSA (1830–1905) was a Scottish painter and engraver.
Life
![22 Scotland Street, Edinburgh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/22_Scotland_Street%2C_Edinburgh.JPG)
Born at the top of Warriston Close, in the
High Street, Edinburgh
The Royal Mile () is a succession of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town of the city of Edinburgh in Scotland. The term was first used descriptively in W. M. Gilbert's ''Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century'' (1901), des ...
, on 20 May 1830, was the ninth child of George Aikman (1788-1865) and his wife Alison McKay. The father, after employment by
William Home Lizars
William Home Lizars (1788 – 30 March 1859) was a Scottish painter and engraver.
Life
The son of Daniel Lizars, and brother of the surgeon John Lizars, he was born at Edinburgh in 1788, and was educated at the high school there. His siste ...
the engraver, started business for himself about 1825 in Warriston Close, where he produced the plates and illustrations for the ''
Encyclopædia Britannica seventh edition
An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Oxford Dictionaries, "English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, ...
''. Many of these were drawn and engraved by his son George.
From a private school Aikman was sent to Edinburgh High School, where he was for three sessions in the class of Dr.
James Boyd. He was then apprenticed to his father, who had moved his business to 29 North Bridge, and after a journeyman period, during which he worked in Manchester and London, he was admitted a partner. As an apprentice he had attended the classes of the Trustees' Academy, then directed by
Robert Scott Lauder
Robert Scott Lauder (25 June 1803 – 21 April 1869) was a Scottish artist who described himself as a "historical painter". He was one of the original members of the Royal Scottish Academy.
Life and work
Lauder was born at Silvermills, Ed ...
, and the
Royal Scottish Academy
The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art.
The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy, it became the ...
life-class.
By 1850 Aikman was showing work at the Scottish Academy exhibitions, but it was not until 1870 that he abandoned business for painting. In 1880 he was elected an A.R.S.A. Between 1874 and 1904 he exhibited at nine of the
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
exhibitions in London.
In his final years Aikman was living in a flat at 22 Scotland Street in
Edinburgh's New Town
The New Town is a central area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It was built in stages between 1767 and around 1850, and retains much of its original neo-classical and Georgian period architecture. Its best known street is Princes Street ...
.
[Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1905-6]
Aikman died in Edinburgh on 8 January 1905, and was buried in
Warriston cemetery
Warriston Cemetery is a cemetery in Edinburgh. It lies in Warriston, one of the northern suburbs of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was built by the then newly-formed Edinburgh Cemetery Company, and occupies around of land on a slightly sloping si ...
.
Works
![Weighing the Anchor Aikman](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Weighing_the_Anchor_Aikman.jpg)
Aikman's theme as a painter was landscape, particularly in the
Perthshire
Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...
Highlands and
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
. He practised etching during most of his life, and towards the end he engraved
mezzotint
Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the '' intaglio'' family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzotint achieves tonali ...
s. Impressions of some of these were exhibited, but only a few of them were published. The engraved plates included:
* ''Robert Burns'' (etching), after
Alexander Nasmyth
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants li ...
, and
* ''Sir Douglas Maclagan'' (etching), after
Sir George Reid;
and among his original plates were:
* ''Carlyle in his Study'' (etching);
* ''Sir Daniel Macnee, P.R.S.A.'' (etching);
* ''Norham Castle'' (etching);
* ''Coming Storm across the Moor'' (mezzotint).
An etching after his picture ''For the Good of the Church'' (R.A., 1874) was purchased by the Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts in Scotland. Aikman contributed to the ''Etcher'' (1880, 1882), ''English Etchings'' (1883-4), and ''Selected Etchings'' (1885), and he illustrated ''A Round of the Links: Views of the Golf Greens of Scotland'' (1893), with etchings after the drawings of John Smart, R.S.A. (1838–1899), and ''The Midlothian Eska'' (1895).
Aikman made some contributions to ''
The Art Journal
''The Art Journal'' was the most important British 19th-century magazine on art. It was founded in 1839 by Hodgson & Graves, print publishers, 6 Pall Mall, with the title ''Art Union Monthly Journal'' (or ''The Art Union''), the first issue of 7 ...
'', on engravers and painters of earlier generations. He made drawings of ancient Edinburgh houses doomed to demolition, and the City Museum gathered a collection of them.
Family
On 2 December 1859 Aikman married Elizabeth Barnett, who with three daughters and two sons survived him.
Notes
References
;Attribution
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aikman, George
1830 births
1905 deaths
19th-century Scottish painters
Scottish male painters
20th-century Scottish painters
Scottish engravers
Artists from Edinburgh
20th-century British printmakers
Burials at Warriston Cemetery
19th-century Scottish male artists
20th-century Scottish male artists
20th-century engravers