Jack Vettriano

[mummymonkey]

This painting has just sold for £750,000.

http://www.vettriano-art.com/shadowvets/thesingingbutlerl.jpg

Jack Vettriano has been largely ignored by the arts establishment. When they do say anything about his work it's to criticise it as simplistic, or even pornographic. The National Gallery refused to buy a painting of his.

Nobody can deny his work is extremely popular and is reproduced widely.

Do the publicly funded establishments have a duty to display work that is popular or must they show only art they believe to be challenging or important?

http://www.vettriano-art.com/

[Underemployed]

I take it you read the recent article about this in The Guardian that I did. Not being a follower of the arts scene, I looked him up and found the site you link to.

Lacking any grounding in the visual arts, I can't really comment. Certainly there doesn't seem to be anything that amazing. Most are pleasing on the eye.

The national galleries are bound to display a broad sampling of work from home and abroad. That said, there's no reason to put something up for display just because it's popular. What if we applied the same criteria in all human endeavours? Remember, the BBC was originally created to educate and inform the citizens of the UK, not to provide what is popular.

[BillyTK]

I love that painting, I sent a card print of it to my wife on our wedding anniversary. I can understand that people might dismiss it as "chocolate box" art, but but there's a ton of stuff going on in his work, for instance, why does he use the point of view of a four-year-old child for his pictures? And why are the faces of his figures either heavily obscured, or turned away from to the viewer?

[Nigel]

I'm glad I found this thread, because through it I found out the name of not only the painting, but the artist (I'm not as adept in the arts as I should be either) I admire. It's Elegy for a Dead Admiral. I first saw it in a store front downtown near where I work, and was instantly transfixed. However, framed, it was $200, and my Wife would've thrown me out if I'd come home with it!

[Soapy Sam]

I like Vettriano's work, but I like it the way I like Larsen cartoons- it's entertaining to look at and quirky enough to be entertaining again a few weeks later. I would not hang works by either artist on my wall to look at every day. I do buy the cards.


The Scottish Art Establishment has clearly handled this badly. They appear to have closed ranks against Vettriano. The public, sniffing elitism (the ultimate crime in Scotland), have come out fighting for the underdog , egged on by the press.

It's all rather unfortunate. Meanwhile, JV is crying all the way to the bank.

Good on him.