JACK VETTRIANO Artist Painter: Biography - Vettriano on Wikipedia

Jack Vettriano OBE, born Jack Hoggan on 17th November 1951, is a Scottish painter. Prints of his work now sell in their millions, probably the most famous of which is the best selling and quirky “Singing Butler”. The artist grew up in relative poverty in the industrial seaside town of Methy, Fife. He left school at the age of 16 and became largely self taught as an artist by studying paintings at the Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery.

The artist’s big break through came in 1989 when he had two canvasses accepted for the annual show at the Royal Scottish Academy. Both paintings sold on the first day. Further exhibitions followed in Edinburgh, London, Hong Kong and Johannesburg. Ten years later in 1999, Vettriano’s work was shown for the first time in New York when 21 paintings were displayed at the International 20th Century Arts Fair at the Armory and all but one were sold on the opening night.

Vettriano’s unmistakable style is now instantly recognisable worldwide and his original paintings sell for huge sums. Those of us who cannot afford these clamour for prints of his work, with sales of these prints generating a rumoured income for the artist of about £500,000 per year.

Not to be overlooked is that Vettriano is also a fine portrait artist and a measure of this is that his self portrait “The Weight” has been displayed at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery since 2011. This also represents the first Vettriano to be accepted at any national gallery. Alex Salmond says of Vettriano: “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 the people of Scotland”.

Jack Vettriano: Biography on Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Vettriano

Artismus247

May 2019