Bluebird, Butler... Jack Vettriano seeks a grand reunion

Published on Wednesday 25 November 2009 22:04

JACK Vettriano expects his most famous painting The Singing Butler to be part of a milestone exhibition he is planning to cover 20 years of his work, he said yesterday.

Bluebird at Bonneville

Sotheby's auctioneers are to help him track down his best-known paintings, seeking loans from celebrity collectors and anonymous buyers.

Vettriano has offered what could be a blockbuster show to the National Galleries of Scotland, with which he is embroiled in a long-running feud.

It was "mildly short of a disgrace" that NGS had never shown or bought his work for the national collection, he said, adding: "That may be the opportunity for the National Galleries to say, 'Right, we'll show this stuff and let the public make their minds up'."

Vettriano was speaking to The Scotsman yesterday ahead of a stage appearance at the Aberdeen Music Hall tonight, fielding questions from up to 800 people. It was an unusual date for an artist, showing the pulling power of the so-called "People's Painter".

In 1989, the former miner with no formal art training had two paintings accepted by the Royal Scottish Academy's annual exhibition, which rapidly sold.

Jack Vettriano: Career profile

When three paintings were shown and sold at London's Royal Academy exhibition the following year, his career as an artist took off, with buyers snapping them up from Edinburgh to Hollywood.

The Singing Butler, with its romantic scene of a dancing couple on a windy beach sheltered by a butler and maid, became one of the world's most recognisable images, with huge print sales.

But it vanished from public sight after it sold for 750,000 in Sotheby's Scottish sale at Gleneagles, the highest price ever paid for a Scottish painting at auction.

Known celebrity collectors of Vettriano's work have ranged from the television presenter Valerie Singleton to the actor Jack Nicholson, who bought a work called After the Thrill is Gone.

While most were bought from exhibitions in Edinburgh or London, others were given away, to recipients ranging from the models who posed seductively for his paintings to Vettriano's friends or even his local car dealer. In recent years many of the top-priced paintings have sold on at auction to unidentified collectors.

Mad Dogs

They include Bluebird at Bonneville, which fetched 468,000 at Sotheby's in 2007, one of the series originally commissioned by Sir Terence Conran for his Bluebird Club dining room. Another is Mad Dogs, which sold for 330,000 in 2004.

Next March, a show of new works by Vettriano will open at the Kirkcaldy Art Gallery and Museum before moving on to Milan and London.

But the painter, who turned 58 this month, has his eye firmly fixed on the show marking his 20 years as a professional artist, originally planned for 2010 but now expected in 2011.

Dance Me to the End of Love

The Singing Butler "has been on my mind since it's been sold. I think it will certainly appear in the retrospective", he said.

Vettriano and his representatives are thought to be seeking about 50 paintings to be shown in Scotland, London and European venues.

Sotheby's director of Scottish pictures, Andre Zlattinger, said private loans were common in exhibitions, and it would be "fairly easy" to seek out paintings.

Shades of Scarlet

"It's the kind of show that would be well received and people would love his work. They would be blockbuster shows in terms of lots of people coming along to see it," he said.

Vettriano is still clearly angry over his latest run-in with NGS, over claims he was commissioned to paint a portrait of golfer Colin Montgomerie, and then pulled out.

"It's the people of Scotland's money, and (NGS] should represent what the people of Scotland want," Vettriano said.

A galleries spokeswoman said: "The National Galleries of Scotland is always open to discussions with Scottish artists about future exhibitions in our dedication to showing the very best national and international art."

THE UNKNOWN COLLECTORS

JACK Vettriano's Bluebird At Bonneville, measuring 40in x 25in, sold at Sotheby's Gleneagles in 2007 to an unidentified buyer for 468,000 – nearly $1 million at 2007 exchange rates. It was originally part of the Bluebird series painted for Sir Terence Conran.

Vettriano's known collectors have ranged from lyricist Sir Tim Rice and businessman Sir Tom Farmer to the former motor-racing champion Sir Jackie Stewart, who commissioned a triptych of himself and his wife.

But the owners and whereabouts of his most famous works are mostly unknown. The Singing Butler sold for 750,000 at auction to a buyer said to be a UK collector of Scottish work. Mad Dogs sold for 330,400 in 2004 and Dance Me To The End Of Time for 192,000 in 2007 – both to private buyers. More typical of his erotic work is Shades of Scarlett, which sold for 194,000 in 2004.