Jack Vettriano Retrospective Exhibition Catalogue

JACK VETTRIANO: A RETROSPECTIVE

Portrait of Jack Vettriano by Francesco Guidicini, London 2013

Portraits of Jack Vettriano by Fredi Marcarini, London 2009

JACK VETTRIANO: A RETROSPECTIVE

KELVINGROVE ART GALLERY AND MUSEUM 2013

This exhibition catalogue is dedicated to W Gordon Smith

PREFACE Dr Ellen McAdam 7

ARTIST’S ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 9

FOREWORD A. L.. Kennedy 11

INTRODUCTION Tom Rawstorne 15

AFTER HOURS Rowan Pelling 19

THE PAINTINGS 23

LIST OF WORKS 188

EXHIBITIONS 194

BIBLIOGRAPHY 195

AFTERWORD Sir Tim Rice 196

PRE FAC E

Since 1901, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum has been a source of learning, inspiration and enjoyment for countless millions of visitors. Among them was a young amateur artist who fabricated excuses for leaving his workplace to visit Kelvingrove and admire its great art: Old Masters, French Impressionists, the Glasgow Boys and Scottish Colourists, and of course Dali’s Christ of St John of the Cross, once controversial and now Scotland’s favourite painting.

That young artist is now a global phenomenon. In 2013 Jack Vettriano celebrates his twenty-first year as a professional artist.

His work is collected internationally, and many of his images have passed into the collective consciousness. For the first time, his work has been gathered together from private collectors around the world for this major retrospective exhibition of over 100 paintings, covering the full breadth of his career to date. Some of these have never been exhibited in public before.

It is entirely fitting that this exhibition should take place in Kelvingrove. The citizens of Glasgow feel an unusual degree of ownership of their Art Gallery, and Glasgow Museums is committed to making its magnificent collection and building accessible to the widest possible audience. To tempt new visitors across the threshold our temporary exhibition programme has ranged from Doctor Who and Scottish football to Ancient Egypt and Italian art. It is our hope that these new visitors are converted into regulars who appreciate our permanent displays. In welcoming this exhibition on the work of Jack Vettriano we anticipate that new audiences will come to Kelvingrove, not only to enjoy his art but to see the rest of the collection that once inspired him.

Our warm thanks go to all of the lenders, the contributors to this publication and the entire team whose hard work has brought this exhibition to Glasgow and to Kelvingrove.

Dr Ellen McAdam Head of Museums and Collections Glasgow Life

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ARTI S T’ S AC KNOW LE D G E ME N T S

There are many people I have met who have enriched this journey I am on; some have helped me creatively, some have shared my pleasure and my pain and some have saved me.

Thanks to:

W Gordon Smith Nathalie Martin Tom Hewlett Jim Heggie Laura Brudenell Team JV @ Heartbreak AL Kennedy Ian Rankin Rowan Pelling Bob Bee Fredi Marcarini Francesca Pini Dr Neil Ballantyne and all the staff at Glasgow Museums Carolyn Osborne Siobhan McKay John & Karen Swan Rt Hon Alex Salmond MP MSP, First Minister of Scotland

9

FORE WORD A. L. KENNEDY

I first met Jack Vettriano in 1994. He looked worried. At

Jack actually had given away his modern clothes, stepped

that time he sported black glossy hair, worn artistically

back in time and into his work. He’d taken his mother’s

long and slightly wild. The lived-in voice and lived-in face

last name – Vettriano being more romantic than Hoggan

suggested late nights and cigarettes, to say the least. He

– and become a man visibly devoted to painting and

was dressed in a carefully composed ensemble that spoke

painting women in particular. I remember him telling me

of other times, Saturday matinee elegance and control:

how much he wished people would dress more carefully,

sharp creases to the trousers, heavy leather shoes, neat

more beautifully, and make the best of themselves. His

jacket and waistcoat, white shirt. In a way, the man and

pose as a dandy, it seemed, was less a sign of ego and more

the work and the work and the man were all there at the

an attempt to make the best of what he felt was a very bad

first glance: the very Scottish and very energetic tension

lot – a kind of low self-esteem flirtation with the world.

between ecstasy and restraint, the devotion to faded romance, the productive insecurity, the huge desire to be

That launch party was small and not exactly A-List, but

visually expressed.

Jack’s reputation as an artist was rising fast. His work was already hugely popular with – apparently – everyone but

He blinked down at me and joked, with a kind of

the Scottish Art Establishment. Soon canvasses would be

flinch, ‘You’ve been reading my mail.’ He seemed both

bought by movie stars, would be priced using six figures

pleased and horrified to have found a new way to be

– and would continue to be hated by the Scottish Art

uncomfortable at an event intended to celebrate his talent.

Establishment.

We were launching Fallen Angels, W. Gordon Smith’s book which brought together reproductions of over forty

Jack is a ‘self-taught’ artist. This has been both a burden

Vettriano paintings with writing from Scottish authors,

and a selling point. Some have claimed the frankly sexual

past and present. I contributed a story to accompany

content of pieces like Game On and Fetish is somehow

The Administration of Justice, his broodingly lovely and

inartistic, or sexist. The authoritative sensuality of Jack’s

ambivalent depiction of ritualistic fixation, of a clothed

women in paintings like Shades of Scarlet, or the passion

man and a naked woman. The piece had immediately

of Long Time Gone is presented as contrasting badly

caught my eye and somehow suggested the story of a

with traditional female nudes, perhaps displayed with

man who fell in love, gave away all of his clothes and

clothed men at a picnic in the grass, perhaps laid out

became someone else, someone devoted. Jack’s images

nicely on a chaise, or emerging from a seashell – passive,

do that, they suggest stories, dark and hot happenings,

vulnerable, safe. Jack’s echoes of popular culture are called

complicated pasts and futures. They resonate beyond

stylistically immature, or even perverse, as if the turn of

their burning moment. When I wrote, I hadn’t known that

another century hadn’t produced portraits of barmaids

11

Portrait of Jack Vettriano by John Swannell, London 1994

and prostitutes now held to be high art, as if his years of

lay bare eccentricities, poses and propositions. Jack shows

practice and a life time’s love of drawing hadn’t enabled

us the dynamics of desire, the honesty and dishonesty

Jack to make choices about what he puts on canvas. There

of men and women caught out of time, lost in strangely

have been times when the same newspapers that sell

heightened surroundings and in the terrible longings

stories using sex and glamour have tried to box Vettriano

they discover. Couples and solitary figures surrender

into a one-man salon des refusés. There have been times

themselves to scenes from movies partly conjured by the

when Jack’s life has imitated his art in a way the tabloids

artist and partly invented by the observer as they enter

have found irresistible.

into the atmospheres Jack creates. Be careful when you look at a Vettriano – you will see what you want to see.

Vettriano’s supporters have perhaps sometimes over-

The pictures will tell you as much about yourself as they

emphasised the working class Fife boy makes good angle, the

do about the artist and his figures, all of them dressed and

exotic fact that he used to work down a mine. His unaltered

undressed as truly and passionately as Jack intended, the

East Coast accent and occasional shyness at public events

artist helping them to look their best.

may sometimes have been taken as an indication of Godgiven talent shining out from somewhere otherwise

Time has moved on since that first meeting. Jack’s hair

slightly dim. But Jack is certainly no fool and has handled

is short and grey, he doesn’t insist on the costume any

those most toxic commodities – fame and wealth – with

more, but the melancholy and the tension, the craft and

considerable generosity and business acumen. And

stories remain. And now Glasgow – city of maverick,

whatever talent he was born with has been trained in

internationalist artists – is celebrating Jack’s work. I hope

hour after hour of experiment and practice. Like Van

Jack can enjoy this celebration. I know Glasgow will.

Gogh, Vettriano recreated an atelier training from scratch, far away from any artistic community, or hopes of an audience. The gifts of art materials from his grandfather when he was a boy, paints from a girlfriend when he was

A.L. Kennedy is a Scottish writer of novels, short stories

twenty-one, the faces and forms of women he needed to

and non-fiction.

paint, the lights, colours and angles of admirable glamour, poetic relationships – they have allowed him to combine all manner of passions and affections on canvas, to create a whole dictionary of little worlds.

Many of his paintings celebrate the dark, use it to form a backdrop for startling colour and startling acts. Amongst shadows and velvety blacks we find glimmering reds, the warm light of flames, the energy of more and less successful liaisons, night terrors and obsessions. Or else there are seafronts and beaches, salt flats, the sunbleached and wind-swept antidotes to claustrophobia that

13

Photograph of Jack Vettriano’s studio 14 (detail) by John Swannell, 2004

I NTROD UC TION TOM RAWSTORNE

At the time of this 2013 Retrospective, twenty-one years

And then I was given this second chance. Those first five

have passed since Jack Vettriano’s first solo exhibition.

years were magical. It was a taste of true liberation – the

Since then, he estimates that he has produced around

chance to do what I loved, complete freedom and the

1,000 paintings. In the early days, such was his drive that

money to live a hedonistic lifestyle.’

he would work around the clock, falling into a wearied sleep on the floor of his studio. Today, the work ethic

Vettriano’s work has become known to a global audience

instilled in him by his father, Bill, is still very evident,

through reproduction as posters and prints, which have

even if, with age (he is now sixty-one), his output has

sold in their millions around the world since the mid-

slowed down. ‘When I started I was producing easily four

1990s.

paintings a week whereas now, it’s more sporadic,’ he says.

posters of The Singing Butler have sold worldwide, making

‘But when I am working, my routine is still the same. I

it Vettriano’s most famous painting. It sits amongst a core

will be up by 6am and won’t put my brushes down until

group of works that have become classics and known to

I’ve finished. It’s just the way I am and the way I like to

several generations. They permeate our subconsciousness

work.’ As for any thoughts of retirement, forget it. ‘I don’t

wherever we are. Barely a day goes by on daytime

think actors, writers or artists retire, they just slow down.’

television without one of the many property programmes

he says. ‘I don’t want to go as far as Renoir did – taping

featuring a home whose walls are adorned by a Vettriano.

brushes to his arthritic fingers – but I know that when I

Leaf through Alexander McCall Smith’s bestselling 44

cease to be able to paint, I will cease to view life in the

Scotland Street and you will find a reference to Vettriano

same way. I have a fear that nothing will be able to replace

embedded in the storyline. And every self-respecting fan

it: visual pleasure is only there for me if I am able to paint

of Radio 4’s The Archers will know that Matt Crawford and

it.’

his partner Lilian Bellamy, took great pains to secrete his

It is modestly estimated that over 10 million

beloved Vettriano painting away from the clutches of his For Vettriano, being reunited with some of his early

ex-wife.

works, gathered together for the first time for this Retrospective, reminds him of the excitement of those

Of course, it would be wrong to focus too much attention

early years - a time when he was able to turn his back on

on the famous early works because gathered together for

a succession of unfulfilling white-collar jobs to take up

this Retrospective of Vettriano’s work are more than one

painting professionally. ‘It was an extraordinary time for

hundred paintings, ranging in date from 1992–2013. And

me,’ he says. ‘I had been destined for a life of lower-middle

through them we are offered an insight into both Vettriano

management – I wasn’t ever going to be any better than

the man and the artist.

that. I was thirty-nine years old, but slipping into old age.

15

The son of a miner, Jack Hoggan (as he then was) was

Of course, the women. They, and the scenes which they

born in 1951 in St Andrews, Scotland and spent his early

inhabit, are often inspired by the era and the place in

childhood in Methilhill. The second of four children,

which he grew up as well as by his love of film and music.

home was a mid-terrace National Coal Board house in

And having experienced at first hand the reality of life at

what is known as a ‘Miner’s Row’ – each comprising two

the bottom of a coalmine, it was ‘glamour not grit’ that he

bedrooms, a sitting room, kitchen and bathroom. He left

wanted to depict.

school at fifteen without qualifications, trained as a mining engineer and didn’t take up painting until he was twenty-

At the age of ten, Vettriano and his family had moved the

one when a girlfriend gave him a set of watercolours.

short distance from Methilhill to Leven, which sits on the coast of the Firth of Forth. Then a popular holiday

Art school was not an option and so he taught himself

destination, it would burst into life in the summer as

the basics by copying the work of artists he admired;

day-trippers poured into the town. The young Vettriano

everything from Dali to Caravaggio to Monet. The free

watched and observed, drinking in the atmosphere. The

admission policies of Kelvingrove and Kirkcaldy Art

men were men – sharp-suited and smooth. As for the

Gallery & Museums were instrumental in granting him

women, they would put on their summer dresses and

access to the work of the Glasgow Boys and the Scottish

stockings and make their promenade. These influences

Colourists at a crucial stage in the development of his

are there for all to see in Vettriano’s beach paintings of the

interest and his craft.

early 1990s – The Pier, Mad Dogs and A Very Dangerous Beach to name but a few. ‘I used to think that romance

It was only in his mid-thirties, after various jobs – including

only took place in bedrooms and bars,’ he says, ‘and then I

one in the personnel department of a management

realized it happens everywhere there is human interaction.

consultancy – that he started to take his art seriously.

Wherever the sun shines, women put on their party frocks

His big breakthrough came in 1989 when he had two

and things happen.’

paintings accepted by the Royal Scottish Academy for its summer show. They sold on the first day and immediately

As he entered his teenage years, the artist’s focus shifted

he received letters from three galleries offering to

away from the beach and to the local dancehalls. The

represent him. By then, Vettriano (he adopted the name

women (all red lipstick, beehive hair, smouldering

as a variant of the surname of his maternal grandfather,

cigarettes) and the sexual tension soaked into Vettriano’s

Pasquale Vettraino) had long moved on from copying

psyche to be recalled years later in paintings such as

the Masters and was creating his own, original works.

Working the Lounge, Girls’ Night and The Main Attraction.

‘When I first became a painter, I just copied paintings because I didn’t have any ideas of my own,’ he says. ‘But

In much the same way that imagery from the dancehalls

a professional artist has to have integrity; the work has to

of his youth would return to fill his canvases, so too

come from the heart. And then I realized that the things

would the music of his early manhood provide a rich vein

that moved me had been in front of me all my life – and

of inspiration. He has long been a big fan of the likes of

they are called women.’

Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan, attracted

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by the depth of lyric and the often melancholic air that surrounds them. Later in life, Vettriano would be similarly influenced by film. Again, a single scene or even frame may capture his imagination. And, as with music, the movies that he finds most inspirational are those that are full of edge. David Lynch’s Blue Velvet is a favourite, and equally significant were Goodfellas, by Martin Scorsese, Bad Lieutenant by Abel Ferrara and the Peter Greenaway film The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover.

In Vettriano’s more recent paintings one other influence is evident – the south of France. In 2004 he purchased a beautiful Art Deco apartment in Nice, a stone’s throw from the promenade and the beach. While somewhat sunnier than his old stomping ground of Leven, it is the seaside’s potential for romance and for intrigue that really attracted him. In Blue Blue, one of his most recently completed works, the influences that first fired his imagination all those years ago are centre-stage once again. ‘Blue Blue is as good a painting as I have done,’ he says. ‘I still get great pleasure from producing a painting like that, I really do.’

‘And,’ he adds, ‘if I’m honest, I can’t see the day coming when I’ll lose that sense of pleasure. Because when I think of where I came from and how this all started, when I think of that first exhibition back in 1992, I still get a wee tingle up my spine. Because it’s not arriving that matters, it’s the getting there.’ And in this Retrospective exhibition at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, the twists and turns of Vettriano’s magnificent journey are there for all to see.

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The Red Room

A FTE R HOURS ROWAN PELLING

When I was the editor of The Erotic Review magazine

force and only the strong and the happy are able to resist

people often asked me how erotica differed from

it.’ This sense that the dogged pursuit of sexual appetite

pornography. I could only offer a personal definition:

can only bring unhappiness is key to his work. The men

it has always seemed to me that pornography offers a

and women in Vettriano’s art are driven by desires that

narrow transaction, because it solely concerns the exact

cannot be sated. Everyone in these couplings wants

bang you get for your buck. There is no mystery involved,

something, but is fearful of the weakness that accompanies

or wider context. The best erotica, on the other hand,

supplication and – perhaps more importantly – what they

evokes a narrative far wider than the frame, or page, or reel

stand to lose in exchange. Appetite is weakness; it brings

on which it is ostensibly contained. You are left pondering

you to your knees, like a cowering beast.

the relationship between writer and protagonist, artist and model, filmmaker and actor. There is a discomforting

Vettriano’s most sexually charged works evoke one

complicity, what you might call an edge-of-seat quality,

cinematic genre in particular, that of film noir. This is a

to your involvement with the creative work in question.

shadow world of dark desires and dead-end alleys, where

The onlooker is teased and taunted and set on a path

males are taciturn, brutish and moody and wear the

of enquiry into someone else’s secret life, without the

fedoras of 1940s gangsters – yet the female is invariably

certainty of a satisfactory ending. Some effort is required

the deadlier of the species. Ah, those broads, those

of an audience as they decipher the erotic and its covert

vixens, those dames and sirens (for Vettriano’s women

narrative, which gives the viewing contract proper value.

are anything but ladies), how can we not talk about them?

Every one of them seems to have emerged fully formed

Nowhere is my definition truer than in the work of Jack

from Femme Fatale School: almost without exception

Vettriano, whose work is almost synonymous with the

they are dark brunettes, with a slash of red lipstick applied

adjectives ‘erotic’ and ‘cinematic.’ To look at one of

to generous, sensual mouths. These are women who look

his canvases is to feel you’ve just walked in on a movie,

at you through narrowed eyes: as if assessing exactly your

momentarily paused. Inevitable questions arise: ‘What

degree of usefulness, or rivalry. They are not wives, but

has just happened?’ and the even more tantalising, ‘What

temptresses – the active agents of adultery. Nor do they

will happen next?’ There’s barely a Vettriano painting that

have any interest in becoming friends with men: the

doesn’t convey some kind of sexual frisson – even his

divide between the genders is impassable except in bed.

pictures of racing cars speak of a lust for living dangerously.

The artist is refreshingly candid about his interest in sex:

These veterans of the great sexual war dangle cigarettes

‘I just happen to think it’s pretty fundamental, everybody

as smoke-screens (each casual puff allows them to

everywhere is driven by the urge to do it. It is a powerful

reconnoitre the terrain) and don heels, stockings and

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Scarlet Ribbons

corsets as combat gear. They would sooner give up the

the supposed victim’s legs are crossed suggests she is in

game of passion than be seen in pantyhose or slacks.

control and has invited this brutality. Even the wound-

Some details of the paintings may suggest a contemporary

red hue of her silk slip (her captors are drab in black

milieu, witness a distinctly modern wine glass or a pair of

and white) reveals she is queen of this fantasy. In Scarlet

90s’ shades, but the prevailing aesthetic is dream-like and

Ribbons a slender supplicant clad only in a tightly laced

detached from real time. If anything, it salutes Hollywood’s

waspie with red ribbons tumbling like blood to the floor,

golden age of glamour. The woman in Vettriano’s The Red

sits on a hard bench, waiting for a debonair man and his

Room might as well be Ava Gardner in The Killers, Gene

jaded lover in a slinky crimson gown to decide her fate.

Tierney in Laura, or, more recently, Linda Fiorentino in

This couple seem in calm control, yet the masochist has

The Last Seduction. The unambiguous message remains

willingly placed herself there and controls the level of her

‘this woman will be your undoing.’ As the artist has said,

own humiliation.

‘in this game of love, women have immense power… much more power than we do. The aim is to show the way

Few people understand the power of sexual triangulation

they can really tie us up in knots.’

the way Vettriano does. The artist knows that for some cast of character, lust is only fully realised when reflected

For the woman viewer contemplating a Vettriano artwork

in the eyes of a third party and that fierce stabs of jealousy

there’s a visceral thrill in the way he salutes female

(‘Is she more desirable than me?’, ‘Is he a better lover?’)

experience and a particular brand of sly knowingness.

intensify the pain and pleasure of transgression. What is

‘Why would you want a woman who doesn’t know

a sexual encounter without a voyeur to witness it? The

what she’s about in bed?’ he seems to ask. By contrast,

men and women in these paintings are numb to passion,

contemporary visual culture is tilted towards portraying

unless they live in fear of being robbed of it. Witness the

women as beautiful blank canvases on to which any

repeat pairings of male competitors, advancing on a sole

fantasy can be attached. Vettriano’s women, however,

defiant woman: a scenario seen in Beautiful Losers, Games

arrive with their past and desires defiantly on display: they

of Power and The Assessors. The men appear to be partners

challenge the viewer to embrace them or flee. The artist

in debauchery, but there is no equality in games of lust

has said, ‘I enjoy women being overt in their sexuality,

and all three players know it. To gamble and lose seems

and that goes way back to the first time I saw prostitutes

to be the ruling motif of all participants: they have eaten

around the dock area – I was about eleven.’

forbidden fruit and there’s no turning back from their inevitable Fall.

Vettriano never flinches from the darker side of sex. His is a morally ambiguous world, as evinced by the painting

‘I choose to paint the moments before or after sex, not the

title We Can’t Tell Right From Wrong. Sadomasochistic

act itself,’ declares Vettriano. Like life itself, the greatest

power games form the central motif of several canvases.

voltage crackles in the scenes pre-consummation. One of

In Setting New Standards a fully clothed man and woman

the artist’s simplest canvases is amongst his most erotic.

hold a manacled, lingerie-clad female captive in a chair; her

In Game On a man pins a woman in a short, black chemise

head held roughly back to expose her throat. Something

up against a wall. He holds her arms above her head, while

violent will undoubtedly unfold and yet the elegant way

he leans in to her white neck. Like Rodin’s great erotic

21

sculpture The Kiss you can’t see the lovers’ faces, they exist in a bubble of their own breathless lust. The man’s hand is thrust between the woman’s legs and she’s raised one stocking-clad thigh to accommodate him. It is an image so visceral and immediate – so much ruder than any scene of copulation – that you catch your breath and fight the urge to turn away.

This is Vettriano’s great triumph: that he takes the onlooker unawares and unsettles them with scenes of unabashed sexuality. He turns all of us into voyeurs. It is a forceful form of seduction: too strong for everyone’s palate. It is also highly unusual in our post-modern world with its constant side-helping of irony. No living, breathing being feels the animal tug of lust ironically: the emotion controls you, not the other way around. Which is why most contemporary art has failed eroticism. Just look at ‘Brit Art’ with its unmade beds, fried eggs as boobs and penises sprouting from the noses of mannequins. All that’s on offer is a self-conscious, squirming, repudiation of the notion that erotic desire is the strongest force known to mankind. Happily for observers of human frailty, Jack Vettriano tells a truer, older, darker story.

Everyone has their own Parlour of Temptation and rare is the individual who lacks the capacity to be derailed by their desires.

Rowan Pelling is a British journalist and broadcaster and was formerly the editor of monthly literary/erotic magazine, the Erotic Review.

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THE PAINTINGS

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1. The Singing Butler

2. The Picnic Party

3. Elegy for the Dead Admiral

4. The Billy Boys

5. Mad Dogs…

6. Waltzers

7. Dance Me to the End of Love

8. The Missing Man

9. The Pier

10. Dancer in Emerald

11. Portrait of the Artist

12. Amateur Philosophers

13. The Star Café

14. Evening Racing

15. Busted Flush

16. How the Web is Woven

17. The Drifter

18. Brief Encounter

19. After the Thrill is Gone

20. Yesterday’s Dreams

21. Back to Basics

22. Edith and the King Pin

23. The Defenders of Virtue

24. Drifters

25. The Man in the Navy Suit

26. The Direct Approach

27. A Date with Fate

28. Sweet Bird of Youth (Study)

29. Bad Boy Blues

30. Bird on the Wire

31. Beach Babes

32. The Duellists

33. Suddenly One Summer

34. Birth of a Dream

35. Bluebird at Bonneville

36. Pendine Beach

37. The British are Coming

38. 301.129

39. A Kind of Loving

40. Working the Lounge

41. The Main Attraction

42. Another Saturday Night

43. Another Sunday Morning

44. And Waiting, Still

45. Singin’ the Blues

46. The Longing

47. One Moment in Time

48. The Parlour of Temptation

49. Playing the Party Game

50. The Drawing Room

51. Shades of Scarlet

52. Cocktails and Broken Hearts

53. Girls’ Night

54. Words of Wisdom

55. Dancer for Money

56. The Purple Cat

57. Beautiful Losers

58. The Devoted Dressmaker

59. Along Came A Spider

60. Black Friday

61. The Cigar Divan

62. Heatwave

63. The Sparrow and the Hawk II

64. Welcome to my World

65. An Imperfect Past

66. On Parade

67. Night Geometry II

68. Fetish

69. The Opening Gambit

70. Just the Way It Is

71. Pincer Movement

72. Private Dancer

73. The Great Poet

74. Night in the City II

75. His Favourite Girl

76. Game On

77. Devotion II

78. Surrender

79 Heaven or Hell: The Sweetest Choice

80. A Strange and Tender Magic II

81. Mirror, Mirror

82. Feeding Frenzy

83. Homage to Fontana?

84. Baby, Bye Bye

85. Only the Deepest Red II

86. In Thoughts of You

87. Winter Light and Lavender

88. Beautiful Dreamer

89. Union Jack II

90. Model in White

91. Lucky Seven

92. Queen of the Waltzer

93. Birdy

94. Self Portrait

95. Riviera Retro

96. The Tourist

97. The Temptress

98. Her Secret Life

99. Days of Wine and Roses

100. Man of Mystery

101. Ship of Dreams

102. Sunshine and Champagne

103. Below Deck

104. Masthead

105. The Look of Love?

106. The Last Great Romantics

107. Anniversary Waltz

108. Blue Blue

109. Scorched

110. Just Another Day

111. Brave New World

112. Long Time Gone

113. The Weight

114. Portrait in Black and Pearl

115. Let’s Twist Again

116. Love Story

117. For My Lover

L I S T O F WORKS 1

The Singing Butler, 1992 Oil on canvas 28 x 36 inches (71.1 x 91.4 cms) Private Collection

11 Portrait of the Artist, 1994 Oil on canvas 32 x 28 inches (81.3 x 71.1 cms) Collection of Mr & Mrs Michael Barron

2

The Picnic Party, 1992 Oil on canvas 28 x 32 inches (71.1 x 81.3 cms) Private Collection, UK

12 Amateur Philosophers, 1992 Oil on canvas 28 x 32 inches (71.1 x 81.3 cms) Private Collection, UK

3

Elegy for the Dead Admiral, 1994 Oil on canvas 20 x 24 inches (50.8 x 61 cms) Private Collection, UK

13 The Star Café, 1992 Oil on canvas 32 x 28 inches (81.3 x 71.1 cms) Private Collection, UK

4

The Billy Boys, 1994 Oil on canvas 24 x 30 inches (61 x 76.2 cms) Collection of Sir Tim Rice

14 Evening Racing, 1992 Oil on canvas 30 x 24 inches (76.2 x 61 cms) Private Collection, Scotland

5

Mad Dogs…, 1992 Oil on canvas 24 x 30 inches (61 x 76.2 cms) Collection of Denise Coates and Richard Smith

15 Busted Flush, 1992 * Oil on canvas 32 x 28 inches (81.3 x 71.1 cms) Private Collection, Scotland

6

Waltzers, 1992 * Oil on canvas 30 x 24 inches (76.2 x 61 cms) Private Collection, Scotland

16 How the Web is Woven, 1992 Oil on canvas 32 x 28 inches (81.3 x 71.1 cms) Private Collection, Scotland

7

Dance Me to the End of Love, 1998 Oil on canvas 28 x 32 inches (71.1 x 81.3 cms) Private Collection, UK

17 The Drifter, 1994 Oil on canvas 28 x 32 inches (71.1 x 81.3 cms) Collection of Denise Coates and Richard Smith

8

The Missing Man, 1997 * Oil on canvas 24 x 30 inches (61 x 76.2 cms) Private Collection, Scotland

18 Brief Encounter, 1993 Oil on canvas 20 x 24 inches (50.8 x 61 cms) Private Collection, Chicago

9

The Pier, 1992 Oil on canvas 24 x 30 inches (61 x 76.2 cms) Collection of Michael Vintiner

19 After the Thrill is Gone, 1994 Oil on canvas 24 x 30 inches (61 x 76.2 cms) Private Collection, UK

10 Dancer in Emerald, 1992 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, UK

20 Yesterday’s Dreams, 1994 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Collection of Denise Coates and Richard Smith

188

21 Back to Basics, 1996 Oil on canvas 20 x 24 inches (50.8 x 61 cms) Collection of Mr and Mrs P Davis

31 Beach Babes, 1996 Oil on canvas 18 x 16 inches (45.7 x 40.6 cms) Collection of Jack Nicholson

22 Edith and the Kingpin, 1996 Oil on canvas 32 x 28 inches (81.3 x 71.1 cms) Private Collection, UK

32 The Duellists, 1993 Oil on canvas 20 x 24 inches (50.8 x 61 cms) Collection of Mr Kayu Poostchi

23 The Defenders of Virtue, 1994 Oil on canvas 32 x 28 inches (81.3 x 71.1 cms) Collection of Sir Tim Rice

33 Suddenly One Summer, 2000 Oil on canvas 32 x 28 inches (81.3 x 71.1 cms) Private Collection, USA

24 Drifters, 2001 Oil on canvas 30 x 34 inches (76.2 x 86.4 cms) Collection of Denise Coates and Richard Smith

34 Birth of a Dream, 1996 * Oil on canvas 20 x 20 inches (50.8 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, UK

25 The Man in the Navy Suit, 1997 Oil on canvas 20 x 24 inches (50.8 x 61 cms) Collection of Ian McCartney

35 Bluebird at Bonnville, 1996 Oil on canvas 25 x 40 inches (63.5 x 101.6 cms) Collection of Dolly Pullum

26 The Direct Approach, 1993 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, Scotland

36 Pendine Beach, 1996 Oil on canvas 28 x 55 inches (71.1 x 139.7 cms) Collection of Mr Andy Holt

27 A Date With Fate, 1995 Oil on canvas 20 x 24 inches (50.8 x 61 cms) Private Collection, Scotland

37 The British are Coming, 1996 * Oil on canvas 20 x 20 inches (50.8 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, UK

28 Sweet Bird of Youth, Study, 1996 Oil on canvas 15 x 12 inches (38.1 x 30.5 cms) Private Collection, UK

38 301.129, 1996 * Oil on canvas 22 x 18 inches (55.9 x 45.7 cms) Private Collection, UK

29 Bad Boy Blues, 1996 Oil on canvas 20 x 24 inches (50.8 x 61 cms) Private Collection UK

39 A Kind of Loving, 1992 Oil on canvas 28 x 36 inches (71.1 x 91.4 cms) Private Collection, UK

30 Bird on the Wire, 1998 Oil on canvas 38 x 30 inches (96.5 x 76.2 cms) Private Collection, UK

40 Working the Lounge, 1992 Oil on canvas 20 x 16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cms) Private Collection, Scotland

189

41 The Main Attraction, 1993 Oil on canvas 18 x 14 inches (45.7 x 35.6 cms) Private Collection, Scotland

51 Shades of Scarlet, 1996 Oil on canvas 32 x 28 inches (81.3 x 71.1 cms) Private Collection, London

42 Another Saturday Night, 1993 Oil on canvas 38 x 44 inches (96.5 x 111.8 cms) Private Collection, UK

52 Cocktails and Broken Hearts, 1998 Oil on canvas 32 x 28 inches (81.3 x 71.1 cms) Private Collection, UK

43 Another Sunday Morning, 1993 Oil on canvas 20 x 24 inches (50.8 x 61 cms) Private Collection, UK

53 Girls’ Night, 1998 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection UK

44 And Waiting, Still, 1994 Oil on canvas 30 x 24 inches (76.2 x 61 cms) Collection of Mr & Mrs Iain Wotherspoon

54 Words of Wisdom, 1996 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, Scotland

45 Singin’ the Blues, 1997 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Collection of James Davidson OBE

55 Dancer for Money, 1996 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Collection of Jack Nicholson

46 The Longing, 1997 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Collection of James Davidson OBE

56 The Purple Cat, 1998 * Oil on canvas 32 x 28 inches (81.3 x 71.1 cms) Private Collection, London

47 One Moment in Time, 1996 Oil on canvas 30 x 24 inches (76.2 x 61 cms) Collection of Joseph and Ann Hughes

57 Beautiful Losers, 1999 Oil on canvas 34 x 40 inches (86.4 x 101.6 cms) Private Collection, UK

48 The Parlour of Temptation, 1996 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, UK

58 The Devoted Dressmaker, 2010 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, UK

49 Playing the Party Game, 1996 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, Scotland

59 Along Came a Spider, 2004 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, UK

50 The Drawing Room, 1996 Oil on canvas 15 x 12 inches (38.1 x 30.5 cms) Collection of Jack Nicholson

60 Black Friday, 1998 Oil on canvas 40 x 18 inches (101.6 x 45.7 cms) Private Collection, UK

190

61 The Cigar Divan, 2000 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, Scotland

71 Pincer Movement, 2004 * Oil on canvas 34 x 20 inches (86.4 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, UK

62 Heatwave, 2000 Oil on canvas 15 x 12 inches (38.1 x 30.5 cms) Private Collection UK

72 Private Dancer, 1996 * Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, UK

63 The Sparrow and the Hawk II, 1999 Oil on canvas 24 x 30 inches (61 x 76.2 cms) Collection of Philip & Leigh Bird

73 The Great Poet, 2004 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, UK

64 Welcome to My World, 1998 Oil on canvas 32 x 28 inches (81.3 x 71.1 cms) Private Collection, UK

74 Night in The City II, 1998 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, UK

65 An Imperfect Past, 2000 Oil on canvas 40 x 32 inches (101.6 x 81.3 cms) Private Collection, UK

75 His Favourite Girl, 2004 Oil on canvas 30 x 24 inches (76.2 x 61 cms) Collection of Doug and Emma Barrowman

66 On Parade, 2006 Oil on canvas 30 x 24 inches (76.2 x 61 cms) Private Collection, UK

76 Game On, 1999 Oil on canvas 30 x 24 inches (76.2 x 61 cms) Private Collection UK

67 Night Geometry II, 1996 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Collection of Jack Nicholson

77 Devotion II, 2004 * Oil on canvas 15 x 12 inches (38.1 x 30.5 cms) Private Collection, UK

68 Fetish, 1998 Oil on canvas 20 x 24 inches (50.8 x 61 cms) Collection of Brian and Doreen Winterflood

78 Surrender, 2004 * Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, UK

69 The Opening Gambit, 1994 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, Scotland

79 Heaven or Hell: The Sweetest Choice, 1995 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, Scotland

70 Just the Way It Is, 1997 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, UK

80 A Strange and Tender Magic II, 2000 * Oil on canvas 30 x 24 inches (76.2 x 61 cms) Private Collection, UK

191

81 Mirror Mirror, 1996 * Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, South Africa

91 Lucky Seven, 2004 * Oil on canvas

24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms)

Collection of Joseph and Ann Hughes

82 Feeding Frenzy, 2000 * Oil on canvas 40 x 34 inches (101.6 x 86.4 cms) Courtesy of the Artist

92 Queen of the Waltzer, 2000 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Collection of Mr & Mrs Alan Yarrow

83 Homage to Fontana?, 1999 Oil on canvas 30 x 24 inches (76.2 x 61 cms) Private Collection, UK

93 Birdy, 2000 Oil on canvas 20 x 16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cms) Collection of Peigi and Andy Muir

84 Baby, Bye Bye, 2004 Oil on canvas 30 x 24 inches (76.2 x 61 cms) Private Collection, UK

94 Self Portrait, 2000 Oil on canvas 20 x 16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cms) Private Collection, UK

85 Only the Deepest Red II, 2001 Oil on canvas 15 x 12 inches (38.1 x 30.5 cms) Collection of Mr & Mrs M Cane-Soothill

95 Riviera Retro, 2006 Oil on canvas 20 x 16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cms) Private Collection, UK

86 In Thoughts of You, 1997 Oil on canvas 24 x 30 inches (61 x 76.2 cms) Private Collection, Switzerland

96 The Tourist, 2002 Oil on canvas 20 x 16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cms) Collection of Mike Parsons

87 Winter Light and Lavender, 1996 Oil on canvas 24 x 30 inches (61 x 76.2 cms) Private Collection UK

97 The Temptress, 2006 Oil on canvas 20 x 16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cms) Collection of Dominic and Aloise Price, Singapore

88 Beautiful Dreamer, 2001 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, Switzerland

98 Her Secret Life, 2006 Oil on canvas 20 x 16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cms) Private Collection, Sweden

89 Union Jack II, 2000 Oil on canvas 36 x 30 inches (91.4 x 76.2 cms) Collection of James Curson - Gask

99 Days of Wine and Roses, 2010 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, Cape Town

90 Model in White, 1997 * Oil on canvas

24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms)

Private Collection, UK

100 Man of Mystery, 2009 Oil on canvas 20 x 16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cms) Collection of Mike and Maria Loggie

192

101 Ship of Dreams, 2009 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, Cape Town

111 Brave New World, 2002 Oil on canvas 15 x 12 inches (38.1 x 30.5 cms) Collection of Paul and Fiona Munn

102 Sunshine and Champagne, 2010 Oil on canvas 20 x 24 inches (50.8 x 61 cms) Private Collection, Cape Town

112 Long Time Gone, 2006 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, UK

103 Below Deck, 2009 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, Monaco

113 The Weight, 2009 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, Gibraltar

104 Masthead, 2009 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, Monaco

114 Portrait in Black and Pearl, 2010 Oil on canvas 20 x 16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cms) Private Collection, UK

105 The Look of Love?, 2010 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Collection of Mr & Mrs Nick Dent

115 Let’s Twist Again, 2010 * Oil on canvas 15 x 12 inches (38.1 x 30.5 cms) Collection of Mike and Maria Loggie

106 The Last Great Romantics, 2010 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Collection of J and V Goetstouwers, Malta

116 Love Story, 2011 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Collection of James & Louise Duncan

107 Anniversary Waltz, 2011 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cms) Private Collection, UK

117 For My Lover, 2013 Oil on canvas 20 x 16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cms) Courtesy of the Artist

108 Blue Blue, 2012 Oil on canvas 20 x 16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cms) Collection of Oscar and Jessica Irvine

* indicates a painting illustrated in the catalogue but not featured in the exhibition itself.

109 Scorched, 2011 Oil on canvas 22 x 20 inches (55.9 x 50.8 cms) Courtesy of the Artist 110 Just Another Day, 2004 Oil on canvas 30 x 24 inches (76.2 x 61 cms) Private Collection, UK

193

S OLO E X H I B I TIONS 1992 Tales of Love and Other Stories

Edinburgh Gallery, Edinburgh

1993 Fallen Angels

Catto Gallery, London

1993 Summers Remembered

Corrymella Scott Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

1994 Chimes at Midnight

Portland Gallery, London

1994 After Midnight

Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg

1995 A Date with Fate

Corrymella Scott Gallery, Heriot Row, Edinburgh

1996 The Passion and the Pain

Portland Gallery, London

1996 Halfway to Paradise

Portland Gallery, Hong Kong

1997 Small Paintings & Studies

Portland Gallery at Edinburgh Festival

1998 Between Darkness and Dawn

Portland Gallery, London & Kirkcaldy Museum & Art Gallery, Fife

1999 International 20th Century Art Fair

Portland at the Armoury, New York

2000 Lovers and Other Strangers

Portland Gallery, London & Kirkcaldy Museum & Art Gallery, Fife

2001 International 20th Century Art Fair

Portland Gallery, London

2002 Paintings 1994 – 2002

Portland Gallery at Art London

2004 Affairs of the Heart

Portland Gallery, London

2006 Love Devotion and Surrender

Portland Gallery, London

2009 Homage ĂĄ Tuiga

Yacht Club de Monaco, Monaco

2010 Days of Wine & Roses

Kirkcaldy Museum & Art Gallery, Fife & Heartbreak Gallery, London

2011 The Ballroom Spy

Heartbreak Gallery, London & Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

2013 Jack Vettriano: A Retrospective

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow

194

B IB L I OG RA PH Y Fallen Angels, Edited by W. Gordon Smith, Pavilion Books. Published October 1994 Lovers and Other Strangers by Anthony Quinn, Pavilion Books. Published June 2000 Jack Vettriano: A Life by Anthony Quinn, Pavilion Books. Published October 2004 Jack Vettriano: Studio Life by Tom Rawstorne, Pavilion Books. Published March 2008 A Man’s World, Pavilion Books. Published May 2009 Women in Love, Pavilion Books. Published May 2009

195

A FTE RWORD SIR TIM RICE

Jack Vettriano has the ability to make you feel nostalgic

As the 20th century faded in to the new millennium,

for things you never actually experienced in the first place.

Vettriano moved into the front rank of contemporary

He takes you to a mood and time that you know so well

artists. Others there (but by no means all) may have

although you were never there. When you first look at one

matched his technical skills but he has the much rarer gifts

of his paintings you are an outsider, illicitly observing a

of realism and humour. Human failings and foibles are not

cool, sharp world of edgy romance and sexual tension.

portrayed in the easy way, through squalor and loathing

The men are tougher than those you know, the women

of his subjects, but subtly. His men and women may win

are unavailable. After a while you can see behind the

through, may come to a sticky end, but either way they

confident poses and languid come-ons; these are people

will do so with glamour and style. There is hope in even

no more in control of their destinies than you are of yours.

his seediest settings, which is why he has accessibility

Maybe you have been where Vettriano’s subjects are – it’s

without compromise.

just that the lighting and the suitcases, beaches and party frocks are different. You are an insider. Maybe the time is here and now.

Jack Vettriano’s paintings make you wonder what will happen next; none are static. Every picture is an episode – in a romance that is about to explode, or in a conquest that is about to be consummated, although who will conquer whom is never clear. He evokes an era of Hollywood but no film of that town’s heyday was made with Vettriano’s burning colour; those great movies remain of their time, these paintings are of many times – the clothes and backdrops are beautiful ornaments that could pinpoint a year, but the faces are universal, of any, or of every, of the past fifty years.

196

Published and produced by Heartbreak Publishing Ltd with Glasgow Museums Heartbreak Publishing Ltd, 17 Bulstrode Street, London, W1U 2JH www.heartbreakpublishing.com | info@heartbreakpublishing.com Glasgow Museums | www.glasgowmuseums.com | editorial@glasgowlife.org.uk First published in 2013 to accompany the exhibition Jack Vettriano: A Retrospective, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, 21 September 2013 – 23 February 2014.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the copyright holder.

ISBN: 978 1 908638 04 5 Images of all paintings © Jack Vettriano Photographs by Andrew Fletcher © Andrew Fletcher Photographs by John Swannell © John Swannell Photographs by Francesco Guidicini © Francesco Guidicini Photographs by Fredi Marcarini © Fredi Marcarini Design and layout © Heartbreak Publishing Designed by Ingrid Freeman Printed and bound by J.Thomson Colour Printers, Glasgow.

JACK VETTRIANO: A RETROSPECTIVE Jack Vettriano is one of the most popular artists working in Britain today.

Born in St Andrews, Fife, in 1951, Vettriano started his working life as an apprentice mining engineer at the age of 16. Famously self-taught, Vettriano began painting full-time in 1991 at the age of 40, encouraged by the wave of interest in his work that followed his successful submission of paintings to the Royal Scottish Academy’s Annual Exhibition in 1989 and the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition in 1990. This book accompanies his first retrospective exhibition in the UK, at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow and brings together over 100 of the artist’s paintings, including his best-loved works. With contributions from W. Gordon Smith, A.L. Kennedy, Rowan Pelling and Sir Tim Rice.

KELVINGROVE ART GALLERY AND MUSEUM

£15.99 ISBN 978 1 908638 04 5

9 781908 638045