Jack Vettriano

Jack Vettriano
Birth name	Jack Hoggan
Born	November 17, 1951 (1951-11-17) Methil, Fife, Scotland
Nationality	Scottish
Field	Painting
Training	Self taught
Movement	Contemporary
Works	The Singing Butler (1992) A Voyage Of Discovery (1992) The Innocents (1993) Bad Boy, Good Girl (1994) After The Thrill Is Gone (1994) And So to Bed (1996) Dance Me To The End Of Love (1998) Suddenly One Summer (2000)

Jack Vettriano OBE born Jack Hoggan (born 17 November 1951), is a Scottish painter.

Early life

Jack Vettriano grew up in the industrial seaside town of Methil, Fife. He left school at 16 and later became an apprentice mining engineer. Vettriano did not take up painting as a hobby until the 1970s, when a girlfriend bought him a set of watercolours for his 21st birthday. His earliest paintings, under the name "Jack Hoggan", were copies or pastiches of impressionist paintings – his first painting was a copy of Monet's Poppy Fields.[2] Much of his influence came from studying paintings at the Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery in neighbouring Kirkcaldy. In 1984, Vettriano first submitted his work to the Shell-sponsored art exhibition in the museum.

Career

Vettriano's breakthrough year was 1988, when he felt ready to display his paintings in public and submitted two canvases for the Royal Scottish Academy annual show. Both paintings sold on the first day and Vettriano was approached by several galleries who wanted to sell his other work. He moved to Edinburgh, changing his name to Vettriano, adding an "a" to his mother's maiden name.

Further successful exhibitions followed in Edinburgh, London, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, and New York. His paintings are reminiscent of the film noir genre, often with romantic or nude themes.

His original paintings now regularly fetch six figure prices, but he is thought to make more money from the sale of reproductions. According to The Guardian, he earns £500,000 a year in print royalties. Each year a new set of limited edition prints are published, and his most popular work, The Singing Butler (which does not actually show a butler singing), sells more posters and postcards than any other artist in the UK. On 21 April 2004 the original canvas of The Singing Butler sold at auction for £744,500 — in stark contrast to 1992 when Vettriano painted the picture and submitted it for inclusion in the Royal Academy summer show, only to be rejected.

In November 1999, Vettriano’s work was shown for the first time in New York, when twenty-one paintings were displayed at The International 20th Century Arts Fair at The Armory. More than forty collectors from the UK flew out for the event and all twenty-one paintings were sold on the opening night to British collectors.

In 1996, Sir Terence Conran commissioned Vettriano to create a series of paintings for his new Bluebird Club in London. The seven paintings inspired by the life of Sir Malcolm Campbell hung in the Club for ten years. Heartbreak Publishing, Vettriano's own publishing company, is to produce a special Boxed Set featuring signed, limited edition prints of all seven paintings to mark the 75th anniversary of Sir Malcolm Campbell's final World Land Speed Record. BLUEBIRD BOX SET

The Bluebird paintings were put up for sale at Sotheby's on 30 August 2007 and made more than £1m. The most expensive was Bluebird at Bonneville, bought for £468,000 at a Sotheby's auction held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire. This painting is considered the most iconic of the series.

Vettriano has studios in Scotland and London. He was represented by the Portland Gallery, London from 1993 to 2007 and counts Jack Nicholson, Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Tim Rice and Robbie Coltrane amongst his collectors. To date, five books have been published about Jack Vettriano, the most recent of which is entitled 'Studio Life' and was published in March 2008.

In 2008 Vettriano painted a portrait of Zara Phillips MBE (horse rider and granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II) as part of a charity fund-raising project for Sport Relief 2008. The painting is entitled 'Olympia' and it is to be auctioned later this year at a charity fund-raising auction along with works by Sir Peter Blake, Rankin, Gerald Scarfe and Stella Vine. All proceeds from the charity auction will go to will go to Sport Relief, an initiative of Comic Relief, a charity registered in England no. 326568. The portraits project was featured in a BBC programme Sport Portraits shown on March 10, 2008.

In February 2009, Vettriano launched his own publishing company, Heartbreak Publishing, to publish and promote work by other artists and to distribute his own published works directly to his fans and collectors.

In March 2010, 'Days Of Wine And Roses', was opened by First Minister, Alex Salmond, at the Kirkcaldy Museum in Fife, Scotland on 27 March 2010 and received more than 48,000 visitors during its five week run there. The exhibition then transferred to Heartbreak, in London.. NEXT EXHIBITION INFORMATION[3]

On Wednesday 24 March 2010, Sir Jackie Stewart presented Vettriano with the Great Scot of the Year Award. The award ceremony was held at the Boisedale Club in London and other nominees included Kirsty Young, Sharleen Spiteri, Ian Rankin and Kenny Logan. The award prompted renewed calls for Vettriano's work to be represented in the National Galleries of Scotland with MSP Ted Brocklebank filing a Motion in Parliament calling for Vettriano's contribution to Scottish culture to be recognised.

In December 2010, Vettriano was asked by First Minister, Alex Salmond to create his official Christmas card which would be sold at a prestigious auction for the benefit of four Scottish charities. Mr Salmond, had selected Bethany Christian Trust, Quarriers and Teenage Cancer Trust with Vettriano selecting Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres. The painting, "Let’s Twist Again" was unveiled for the first time at an event at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh(Monday December 6). The canvas features a festive image of a glamorous couple dancing at a Christmas party.Unveiling "Let's Twist Again" at the Scottish National Galleries

"Let's Twist Again" was then auctioned at an exclusive auction in February at The Old Course Hotel in St.Andrews with the First Minister attending. With the painting and Limited Edition sales combined, just under £100,000 was raised for the four charities.

In February 2011 it was announced that Vettriano's self-portrait, "The Weight" would be displayed at the re-opened Scottish National Portrait Gallery from November 2011. BBC announcing "The Weight". First Minister, Alex Salmond said: “I warmly welcome the announcement that The Weight by Jack Vettriano will go on display at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Jack truly deserves this honour. He is a wonderful artist of considerable talent and achievement and this is a magnificent tribute to the special place he holds in the hearts of people in Scotland.” The Scotsman article

May 2011, "The Ballroom Spy" opened at Heartbreak - a new exhibition by Vettriano in collaboration with the photographer, Jeanette Jones. The Ballroom Spy In July 2011, the exhibition then transferred to the Royal West Academy of Arts in Bristol which was viewed as a controversial choice by many. BBC coverage of Bristol opening

January 2012, the luxury menswear brand, Stefano Ricci, launched their Spring Summer 2012 collection with a campaign inspired by the work of Jack Vettriano. Their SS 2012 catalogue, entitled 'Stefano Ricci - a tribute to Vettriano', features images by Vettriano and photographic re-interpretations shot by Fredi Marcarini and featuring clothes and accessories from the Ricci 2012 collection. A short film about the 2012 Vettriano campaign has been presented by Ricci to commemorate the collaboration.

Use of reference

The Singing Butler.

In October 2005, after the original of The Singing Butler sold for £740,000, research revealed that Vettriano had used the artists' reference manual The Illustrator's Figure Reference Manual to form his figures, using a then unknown pose by London based struggling Irish actress Orla Brady for the 'lady in red.' Vettriano is self-taught, and said he used such sources in his early years, as he did not have the financial resources to hire models.

Collaborations

Alongside fellow Fifer, author Ian Rankin, Vettriano put in a cameo appearance in a video with Scottish indie band Saint Jude's Infirmary made for BBC Scotland's 'The Music Show'. The video was filmed on Portobello Beach in Edinburgh and included visual references to two of Vettriano's most famous paintings, Elegy for a Dead Admiral and The Singing Butler. The lyrics of the track Goodbye Jack Vettriano were written by band member, Grant Campbell, while he was homesick, away in Rotterdam and on seeing a Vettriano print on a pub wall.

Vettriano became a fan of the band after hearing their first album, Happy Healthy Lucky Month, and was inspired by the lyrics of Goodbye Jack Vettriano to create a painting which featured as the cover of the band's second album, , for which both Vettriano and Rankin have contributed spoken word pieces.

In May 2008, Vettriano collaborated with Formula One legend, Sir Jackie Stewart, on a triptych of paintings entitled Tension, Timing, Triumph - Monaco 1971. The paintings were unveiled by HSH Prince Albert of Monaco at a private reception at the Hotel de Paris in Monaco on 21 May 2008. The paintings will hang in Sir Jackie's private collection in the UK and the images have been published as a limited edition print, which both men have signed.

Following on from the previous year's event in Monaco, Vettriano was invited to create a series of paintings to celebrate the centenary of Tuiga, the Yacht Club of Monaco's flagship yacht. The paintings were first shown in an exhibition, Hommage à Tuiga, in Monaco but will be available to a much wider audience when they are shown as part of a touring exhibition that opens at the Kirkcaldy Museum in Fife in March 2010.

Vettriano worked with the Italian photographer, Fredi Marcarini, on a series of photographs for the Homage A Tuiga exhibition. The two artists had met in Milan in November 2008, when Vettriano was invited by the Swan Group as guest of honour to their Gala Dinner to celebrate the launch of their new magazine, in part inspired by the women in Vettriano's paintings. Vettriano honoured at Gala Dinner. Vettriano was interviewed for the Swan Group's 'Monsieur Magazine', for which Marcarini took a series of photographs of Vettriano in his London studio. The two artists styled a tripytch of portrait shots, which have been subsequently released as a special edition by Heartbreak Publishing. Vettriano Marcarini Triptych

In May 2011, Vettriano embraced his love for Ballroom Dancing and collaborated on the exhibition "The Ballroom Spy" with the photographer Jeanette Jones. Vettriano had been a fan of Jones work for sometime and welcomed the opportunity to create new work on the dancing theme. His publishing company, Heartbreak Publishing released a brand new Limited Edition, "Anniversary Waltz" for the exhibition. Anniversary Waltz.

Philanthropy

In January 2008 Vettriano donated a painting,Study for Bluebird at Bonneville, to a charity auction at the London Art Fair to raise funds for the Terrence Higgins Trust. The painting, which was one of the studies for the iconic painting Bluebird at Bonneville, was sold for £32,000 and was the highest achieving lot of the night.

In 2004 Vettriano set up a scholarship for St Andrew's University to fund a student who would not be able to attend university otherwise. The scholarship is awarded every four years, the first recipient of which began their studies in September 2004. The endowment follows his financial contribution towards refurbishing the Students Association's Old Union Coffee Bar in 2002 and his involvement in student fashion shows. He was made a Doctor of Letters by the university.

In September 2001, Vettriano donated a painting, Beautiful Dreamer to a charity auction, which was held at Sotheby’s in aid of Help the Hospices. In 2008, a rare drawing he made of that subject sold for £22,000 at a charity auction in aid of the Oriel Plas Glyn-y-Weddw Gallery in North Wales in July, helping to keep the gallery going.

Jack Vettriano donated a portrait he painted of Zara Phillips MBE (horse rider and granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II) to Sport Relief 2008. The painting, entitled Olympia went to a charity fund-raising auction along with works by Sir Peter Blake, illustrator Gerald Scarfe and Stella Vine. The portraits project was featured in a BBC programme Sport Portraits shown on March 10, 2008. The painting was sold at Bonhams for £36,000.[4]

In March 2009 Vettriano donated a self portrait, 'The Weight (study)', to the Lighthouse Gala Auction in aid of the Terrence Higgins Trust. The painting, which was inspired by a photograph taken by Fredi Marcarini at Vettriano's London home, was sold for £21,000 on the night.

Anne Magill and Jack Vettriano both donated paintings to this year's Terrence Higgins Trust Lighthouse Gala auction, which took place at Christies' on Monday 22 March 2010. Vettriano's painting, entitled 'Queen of Diamonds II', is the study for a larger painting which is to feature in Vettriano's forthcoming exhibition. The painting was sold for £26,000. Magill's painting, entitled 'Still', sold for £8,000 and is one of a series of studies of performers preparing to go on stage which will feature in Magill's forthcoming exhibition, which is to open at a major new gallery space in London later this year. Anne Magill is now represented by Heartbreak Publishing.

The Elephant Parade Last summer, The Elephant Parade took over London, with a full herd gathered on Wednesday 1 July for a special gala event and auction. Vettriano's elephant, 'The Singing Butler Rides Again', was the highest bid for Lot of the night,selling to a phone bidder for £155,000. The auction itself raised over GBP £4 million.

British Airways asked if Vettriano would create a postcard as part of their campaign for Sports Relief. The postcard "Wish You Were Here" raised over £2000 for the charity. About the postcardBritish Airways

In March 2011, Vettriano donated a painting for the Lighthouse Gala Auction in aid of the Terrence Higgins Trust. Vettriano’s painting, entitled, Sunshine and Champagne II, is the study for a larger painting of the same title that featured in Vettriano’s Homage a Tuiga series of works, created to mark the centenary of the Yacht Club of Monaco’s world-famous yacht, Tuiga.Painting details The painting raised £29,000 on the night.

Books

There are numerous books that have been published on Vettriano and his work. They include:

Fallen Angels Published by Pavilion Books, October 1999 (ISBN 978-1-86205-364-9)

Lovers and Other Strangers Text by Anthony Quinn Published by Pavilion Books on 30 October 2003 (ISBN 978-1-86205-630-5)

Jack Vettriano: A Life Text by Anthony Quinn Published by Pavilion Books on 25 October 2004 (ISBN 978-1-86205-646-6)

A reduced format of Jack Vettriano: A Life was published in 2007.

Studio Life Foreword by Ian Rankin Photographs by Jillian Edelstein Text by Tom Rawstorne Published by Pavilion Books on 28 March 2008 (ISBN 978-1-86205-743-2)

Women In Love Foreword by Jack Vettriano

A Man's World Foreword by Jack Vettriano

Personal life

Divorced from his first wife, Vettriano divides his time between homes in London, Kirkcaldy and Nice, France. In 2004 he was awarded the OBE.

References

• Reid, Melanie (2007-08-29). "Because I’m worth it". London: The Times. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article2341809.ece. Retrieved 2007-09-08. 
• Gordon Smith, W (October 1994). "Fallen Angels". Pavilion Books. 
• Quinn, Anthony (June 2000). "Lovers and Other Strangers". Pavilion Books. http://www.anovabooks.com/book/978-1-86205-630-5. 
• Quinn, Anthony (October 2004). "Jack Vettriano: A Life". Pavilion Books. http://www.anovabooks.com/book/1862057249. 

Notes

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External links

• Jack Vettriano's official website
• Jack Vettriano's Official Publishing Website
• Jack Vettriano's new gallery