Chrystabel Aitken (1904-2004)

A DigitalNZ Story by Sienna Latham

When she was just seventeen, Chrystabel Aitken's family relocated from Southland to Christchurch so that she could pursue her passion at Canterbury College School of Art. Her diverse work ranges from repoussé metalwork, jewelry and leatherwork to paintings, linocuts and sculptures, as well as modeling, which she studied under Francis Shurrock. Many of her pieces reveal the influence of the Arts & Crafts movement. She was among the artists commissioned to design and carve components of the Centennial Exhibition Buildings at Rongotai in the 1930s. See a portrait of Aitken as a young woman here: http://tpo.tepapa.govt.nz/ViewImageFileDetail.asp?ImageFileID=TPO_MNZ050

arts and crafts, handcrafts, horses, flowers, illumination, patterns, female artists