was simply copying the work of other artists like the of getting a seat. Those who gained admission were
Glasgow Boys. I’d paint children playing by seaside about to witness history in the making: after fierce
rockpools and that sort of thing. It was sentimental bidding the painting was finally sold for a staggering
trash really. I was reworking stuff that had been £744,800. The buyer’s identity remains unknown
painted 100 years before. I’d do those little pictures although Sotheby’s confirmed it was a UK collector
and put them into local charity exhibitions and they’d of Scottish art. The Singing Butler had set a new world
all sell quickly for between £50 and £75. I realised record for a Scottish painting sold at auction, easily
that I could go on doing that kind of stuff for the outstripping the previous £520,750 paid in 2001 for
rest of my life, but if I was to be judged by my peers, Samuel Peploe’s The Black Bottle. More surprises were
I had to develop a style that was uniquely mine. I sat to follow as the remaining Vettrianos sold at two or
down and thought about the things that stood out as three times their estimated price. By the end of the
having shaped my life. One of those things was The evening the paintings had fetched nearly £2 million
Dancing at The Raith and The Burma in Kirkcaldy. I in total.
loved the elegance of those places. They excited me “The Singing Butler is not the best painting that’s
and, of course, women have always excited me. ever been done in Scotland, not by a long chalk,”
“In 1989 I produced two paintings: one I called Jack said, “but it is the most popular one. It’s just a
Saturday Night, showing a couple in an Art Deco curious phenomenon. All you need is two guys in a
ballroom; the other was Woman in a White Slip. I saleroom outbidding one another. That doesn’t make
put them into the Royal Scottish Academy’s Summer it an exceptional painting. The art critic, W. Gordon
Exhibition, which is open to anybody. I caught the Smith, wrote an article for the newspaper Scotland on
train down to Edinburgh, gatecrashed the opening Sunday, which made it appear that I had somehow
night and discovered that both paintings had sold walked out of the coal pits of Fife, picked up brushes
within 15 minutes. During the run of that exhibition and started this new career as a painter. Of course
I received letters from three different galleries that it wasn’t true, but nevertheless all sections of the
(a) wanted to know who I was because they’d never media picked up on that and I did a lot of radio, TV
heard of me and (b) asked where they could get their and newspaper interviews. They loved the idea that
hands on more of my work.” here was somebody without any training whatsoever
Fortunately he had the savvy to realise that his who had somehow slipped in the back door when
moment had arrived. Up until that time he had been nobody was looking. Before I knew it I was virtually
plain Jack Hoggan. Now he took his mother’s Italian a household name. The work genuinely touched the
family name, Vettraino, turned it into Vettriano and public in a way that they had never been touched.
created a new identity for himself. By that time his Here was a guy doing paintings that they could relate
obsession with painting meant that his marriage had to in a nanosecond. They didn’t need a degree in art
ground to a halt. “I gave up my social life,” he said, “and or a degree in psychology to understand it. They just
focused entirely on nothing but painting, painting, had to look at the canvas to see themselves and that
painting. I stopped working, moved to Edinburgh resonated very deeply with people in Scotland.”
and became this painter called Jack Vettriano. Within Vettriano says he works best when there’s some
the first year I had made three times what I used to friction in his life, when things are not going as well
make. From a standing start my career as an artist just as they might. “I have a wee destructive streak in me,”
took off. I wish I could tell you stories about living he said, “in which I tend to destroy the things that are
in a garret and existing on nothing but cheese, but it good for me. I always seem to paint better when I’m
just wasn’t like that. Each of the galleries that took feeling some kind of pain or when I’m emotionally
my work sold it immediately. Two years later in 1991 handicapped. There’s inspiration in that for me, but
I had my first solo exhibition in Edinburgh. That was it means that I’m always looking for the havoc in
a huge success.” my mind that makes me creative. I wish it wasn’t so,
Jack Vettriano earned £3000 for The Singing but it is. I realise that’s just the nature of the beast.
Butler when it was originally exhibited back in Because I’m self-taught and because I’ve had a bit
1992 and he says he was incredibly pleased with of a rough ride from the Art Establishment I’m very,
that. What happened next was nothing less than very loathe to be in the company of other artists.
astonishing. On the evening of April 19, 2004, at Psychologically I’m scared that they’ll criticise me. I
Hopetoun House near Edinburgh, Sotheby’s offered very rarely go to openings and I pick and choose my
14 Vettriano originals for auction, among them The public appearances if I think other artists are going
Singing Butler, which was estimated to fetch a price to be there. I do go out from time to time, but I’m
of between £150,000 and £200,000. More than 500 always happy to get back to my lair.”
people queued outside the auction room in the hope
For further details visit
www.jackvettriano.com
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