Fyffe Christie (1918-1979) ''Bacchus and Hestia'' Signed and dated August 1972, oil on board, 121cm
Fyffe Christie (1918-1979) "Bacchus and Hestia" Signed and dated August 1972, oil on board, 121cm by 59.5cm
Provenance: From the artist's estate
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Christie was born in Bushey, Hertfordshire but grew up in Glasgow, beginning his artistic training with a lithography apprenticeship, which he later left due to the medium's restrictive creative quality. After a period of war time service as a Bagpiper and stretcher-bearer in the 9th Battalion the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), he studied mural painting at Glasgow School of Art. His pursuit of mural painting sparked his lifelong fascination with figures and their environments, so much so that he produced a series of drawings of his students whilst teaching at Park Modern School. Christie was drawn to figures, and often painted scenes composing nudes within forest-lined backgrounds, epitomising his fascination in the human figure and the natural world and one's place within it.