Partner Alfredo Bouret
Queer Places:
84 Pimlico Rd, London SW1W 8PL, UK
Lex Robert Aitken (June 4, 1930 - July 2, 2013) was a Melbourne-born interior designer. His partner was the esteemed fashion illustrator and designer Alfredo Bouret.
Lex Aitken was born in 1930 in Melbourne, Australia. His family owned property in Victoria, which it was assumed he would later manage, however his calling was strongly towards the arts. He studied Fine Art and History, excelling in Sculpture which was, for a time, the direction he wished to pursue. Upon graduation the lure of travel became his focus and he set sail to Europe in 1950. He shared a cabin with Lois Hunter, the New Zealand author and poet, who was to become a lifelong friend. Hunter introduced Lex to many artists including Arthur Boyd, Brett Whiteley, Clement Meadmore and Michael Johnson, all of whom sought Lex’s counsel during stays in London. Lex was welcomed into London society and through his keen eye, study and natural flair became a leading interior designer. When his early employer, Charles Howard, sold half his business to Lex in the mid 1950s, his course was set to be a leader in the field and he became highly sought after, not only for his creativity but also for his ability to source extraordinary art and furniture. In the early 1960s he opened his own eponymous business, Lex Aitken, at 84 Pimlico Road, London. Lex was known for his absolute integrity and his absolute discretion: when high fashion and design publications pursued him for access to his clients, to publish and promote his work, the answer was always a polite “no, thank you”. Lex Aitken’s clients and friends, including Lucian Freud, James Lees-Milne and Geoffrey Bennison, treasured his work, his finely-tuned aesthetic, his connoisseurship and his contagious enthusiasm for wonderful works of art, paintings and furniture.
Lex Aitken was a citizen of the world, having property in London, Mougins and Sydney and he travelled regularly keeping in touch with his wide circle of friends. His final home was in Watson’s Bay in Sydney, which he shared with his great friend of fifty-four years, the world -enowned fashion illustrator and designer, Alfredo Bouret Gonzalez. Lex and Alfredo were generous supporters of galleries and institutions such as the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the RMIT University, Melbourne and the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.
Before his tragic death in a fall from an apartment in the Bellevue Hill retirement apartment to which they had moved, Aitken and Gonzales spoke to Ronan Sulich and Deutscher and Hackett about the dispersal of the collection and indicated that they would like the “Old Masters” and decorative art in the collection to be sold in London. After Lex died Alfredo, distraught and in his late 80s, left to live with his family in Vancouver. He also reminiscenced about meeting Christian Dior on leaving Mexico for Paris in 1948 and put a lot of work into the collection. The Lex Aitken & Alfredo Bouret Gonzalez Collection was sold at auction at Christie's, totalling GBP 933,900.
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