Latest news with #JackVettriano
Edinburgh Reporter
30-05-2025
- Automotive
- Edinburgh Reporter
Vettriano studies sold at auction
A group of six studies by the late Scottish artist Jack Vettriano fetched nearly £132,000 at auction in Edinburgh amid a peak in interest in his work following his recent unexpected death. The oil paintings were completed by Vettriano over a period of more than 20 years and included subjects ranging from a poignant self portrait to one of his iconic racing car scenes. The works, which led Bonhams' Scottish Art Sale in Edinburgh, were among the first by Vettriano to appear at auction since the artist died in March, aged 73, at his home in Nice in the south of France. The highlight was Pendine Beach (Study), painted in 1996, which made £44,800. The picture was part of a series by Vettriano featuring racing driver Malcolm Campbell in his land speed record-breaking car Bluebird. It was commissioned by the late designer and restaurateur Sir Terance Conran and hung in his Bluebird Restaurant in London, Vettriano's study for 'Self Portrait – Lost Soul', which fetched £11,500, showed the late artist dressed all in black standing with hands in his pockets under a Biblical quote reading: 'For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?' Meanwhile, the artist's 'Daytona Diner', painted in 1995 as a study for his famous larger work, 'Diner', fetched £14,100, and 'A Letter of Consequence', showing a man examining a note, was sold for £19,200. Another study titled 'The White Basque' was sold for £28,200 and Vettriano's 1996 painting 'Girls will be Boys' doubled its estimate by making £14,100. Bonhams, who had worked closely with Vettriano in the past, paid tribute to the 'people's painter' and led the sale with his work. May Matthews, Managing Director of Bonhams Scotland, said: 'Jack Vettriano's death is a great loss to Scottish art. 'His paintings are distinctive and original and what's more, they are familiar to the person in the street with little or no knowledge of Scottish art. In this he is perhaps unique, and why he has been given the title of 'the people's painter'. 'We've seen a lot of interest in Vettriano's work since his death, and it was no surprise that all six studies sold well.' Vettriano was born Jack Hoggan, in 1951, and raised in Methil, Fife. He famously took up painting as a hobby after a girlfriend bought him a set of watercolours for his 21st birthday in November 1972. By the time he came to prominence in 1988, he had adopted his mother's maiden name, Vettriano. Scotland's most commercially successful artist, his most famous painting, The Singing Butler, with figures dancing on a beach under a cloudy sky, was sold at auction in 2004 for £744,800. Like this: Like Related
Glasgow Times
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
Scottish Colourist painting sells for more than £381,000 at auction
Roses In A Green Jug went under the hammer in the Scottish art sale at Bonhams in Edinburgh on Wednesday. It sold for £381,400 including buyer's premium, above the estimate of £250,000-£350,000. Paintings by fellow Scottish Colourist Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell and by the late Jack Vettriano also featured in the sale. Pendine Beach (Study) by Jack Vettriano sold for £44,800 (Bonhams/PA) Peploe once characterised his career as a search for the perfect still life, and was influenced by his time in Paris from 1910-12 where he studied the work of Post-Impressionist masters. Major Ion R Harrison, a Scottish shipping magnate, first encountered Peploe's work at an exhibition in Glasgow in the 1920s and soon became a close friend and patron of the painter and the Scottish Colourists. May Matthews, managing director of Bonhams Scotland, said: 'Peploe's Roses In A Green Jug is a masterful execution of composition and colour, taking inspiration from Paul Cezanne and French Post-Impressionism, while maintaining the artist's distinctive individual style. 'Peploe's still lifes were meticulously planned and executed, creating the dialogue between object and space for which he and his fellow Colourists were renowned. 'The work has a remarkable provenance, having once hung in the drawing room of Croft House owned by Ion R Harrison, a notable patron of the Scottish Colourists.' Roses In A Green Jug can be seen hanging in the background of Cadell's Portrait Of Mrs Ion R Harrison of 1932. The White Strand by Scottish Colourist Samuel John Peploe fetched £74,060 (Bonhams/PA) Six works by Vettriano, who died earlier this year, also went under the hammer. Pendine Beach (Study), which was painted in 1996, sold for £44,800, including buyer's premium, above the estimate of £20,000-£30,000. The painting once hung in the late Sir Terence Conran's Bluebird restaurant in London, after he bought the picture in 1996, Bonhams said. A selection of landscapes of the island of Iona were also sold. They included Peploe's paintings of The White Strand, Iona, which went for £74,060. All prices included buyer's premium.
Western Telegraph
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Western Telegraph
Scottish Colourist painting sells for more than £381,000 at auction
Roses In A Green Jug went under the hammer in the Scottish art sale at Bonhams in Edinburgh on Wednesday. It sold for £381,400 including buyer's premium, above the estimate of £250,000-£350,000. Paintings by fellow Scottish Colourist Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell and by the late Jack Vettriano also featured in the sale. Pendine Beach (Study) by Jack Vettriano sold for £44,800 (Bonhams/PA) Peploe once characterised his career as a search for the perfect still life, and was influenced by his time in Paris from 1910-12 where he studied the work of Post-Impressionist masters. Major Ion R Harrison, a Scottish shipping magnate, first encountered Peploe's work at an exhibition in Glasgow in the 1920s and soon became a close friend and patron of the painter and the Scottish Colourists. May Matthews, managing director of Bonhams Scotland, said: 'Peploe's Roses In A Green Jug is a masterful execution of composition and colour, taking inspiration from Paul Cezanne and French Post-Impressionism, while maintaining the artist's distinctive individual style. 'Peploe's still lifes were meticulously planned and executed, creating the dialogue between object and space for which he and his fellow Colourists were renowned. 'The work has a remarkable provenance, having once hung in the drawing room of Croft House owned by Ion R Harrison, a notable patron of the Scottish Colourists.' Roses In A Green Jug can be seen hanging in the background of Cadell's Portrait Of Mrs Ion R Harrison of 1932. The White Strand by Scottish Colourist Samuel John Peploe fetched £74,060 (Bonhams/PA) Six works by Vettriano, who died earlier this year, also went under the hammer. Pendine Beach (Study), which was painted in 1996, sold for £44,800, including buyer's premium, above the estimate of £20,000-£30,000. The painting once hung in the late Sir Terence Conran's Bluebird restaurant in London, after he bought the picture in 1996, Bonhams said. A selection of landscapes of the island of Iona were also sold. They included Peploe's paintings of The White Strand, Iona, which went for £74,060. All prices included buyer's premium.
The Guardian
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
If civil servants have to make the grade, MPs should too
I see that the government is planning a cull of civil servants and will be aiming to incentivise underperformers to leave (9 March). I wonder whether a similar plan is envisaged to deal with politicians of a likewise disposition. If so, we had better prepare for general elections on a much more frequent basis – provided of course that they can be arranged by civil servants of an acceptable JordanCrowthorne, Berkshire Reading the letters expressing different points of view on Jack Vettriano (Letters, 9 March) I was reminded of an old cartoon that shows two people in a gallery looking at John Constable's The Hay Wain, with one asking the other: 'It's a lovely picture, but what does it mean?'Peter PhilpottPatrick Brompton, North Yorkshire Re Jack Vettriano's work, I recalled my 1950s physicist headmaster quoting Claude Bernard's 'Art is I; science is we' after trying to explain Boyle's law to fledgling sixth Roger MerryBath 'Laura has a pleasing voice' (Letters, 9 March) reminds me of my brief stint in the school choir. I lasted until they worked out where that 'bloody row' was coming GarnerOxenhope, West Yorkshire I felt a tinge of sadness that King Charles chose a cover of Little Eva's song, The Loco-Motion, rather than the original (King Charles pays tribute to 'marvellous' Bob Marley as he shares favourite songs, 10 March).Linda RheadHampton, London Do you have a photograph you'd like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers' best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.
The Guardian
09-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Jack Vettriano's ‘cheeseburger' art and the matter of taste
Eddy Frankel's article on Jack Vettriano ('His paintings are like a double cheeseburger in a greasy wrapper', 3 March) is full of the sort of backhanded compliments, grudging recognition and snobbish disdain that followed the Scottish painter throughout his career. For many art critics, Vettriano committed the ultimate sin of being popular with the sort of people who don't usually 'get' art. Or, as Frankel puts it, the sort of people who enjoy the occasional McDonald's cheeseburger. I've always been wary of the notion that art is better if you have to perform mental acrobatics in order to 'get' it. I have been shown 'good' modern art many times, and have been told why it is good – but I would not necessarily want it hanging in my home. Vettriano's best paintings, on the other hand, elicit feelings in people that many apparently 'good' modern artworks are simply unable to provoke. Regardless of the 'conceptual edge' that Frankel finds lacking in The Singing Butler, few people would deny that it is a beautiful painting. And would you rather hang a beautiful painting on your wall, or a painting whose 'conceptual edge' means absolutely nothing to anybody except the artist and a handful of critics? I imagine people will still appreciate Vettriano's paintings in 50 years' time – long after all memory of the 'conceptually edgy' modern art that the critics would prefer we liked has faded. With the poised beauty of his paintings, Vettriano democratised art, taking it out away from the critics and placing it into the hands of everyday people. It is a sin for which many in the art world still cannot forgive him. But then maybe I just don't 'get it' like the critics McQueenBrussels, Belgium It is 2025, yet the Guardian's main comment on the death of Jack Vettriano appears to be that his work is 'sexy'. Are we really still only appraising art through the male heterosexual gaze? Eddy Frankel concedes that Vettriano's work is 'pretty sexist', a dismissive understatement if ever there was one. Vettriano's work is retrograde and objectified women (women of a very narrow age bracket) in a way that is no longer acceptable. It is no defence to claim that something is 'popular'; Donald Trump can be said to be 'popular'. The distasteful aesthetic of Vettriano's work, its ability to give you a sense of unease, which Frankel does manage to allude to by describing it as 'a double cheeseburger wrapped in greasy paper', is embedded in the obvious untruths his images peddle; the scenarios in the paintings masquerade as sexy and romantic while serving up a polished turd of thinly veiled misogyny. Tamar Payne MA painting student, Royal College of Art I am perhaps one of the great unwashed. I always liked Jack Vettriano's paintings and I have a room of his prints. I also have prints of Van Gogh's and of Munch's pictures, and a few originals I could afford by 'undiscovered' artists. What the art world seems to forget is that it is possible to like all these at the same time. In the same way, I like Schubert and I like Boney M, albeit one is better for dancing Heydon-DumbletonPathhead, Midlothian Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
