Vettriano finds a permanent home in London

Published on Sunday 5 February 2006 01:10

JACK Vettriano is to get his own permanent exhibition space in the heart of London's gallery district.

The artist, who until now has had none of his major work on show in public, is to have some of his best known paintings, including A Kind of Loving, The Picnic Party and Winter Light and Lavender, on permanent display in St James'.

The display, which will be unveiled at the new Portland Gallery on Bennet Street this week, will effectively mean the artist now has a public gallery dedicated to his work.

Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery near his home town of Methil is the only public gallery in the UK which owns works by Vettriano, but they are early paintings and are not considered by the art world as being among his best.

Tom Hewlitt, director of the Portland Gallery, said: "We are hanging five of his major works in our new showroom. This will be the only public space where you can go and see the original Jack Vettriano paintings."

Vettriano's The Singing Butler sold for 744,800 at Sotheby's in 2004. It is estimated that he earns 500,000 a year in royalties from prints and postcards bought by the public, but the road to critical acceptance has been much slower. The decision in 2003 by Sir Timothy Clifford, the former director general of the National Galleries of Scotland, to send a letter congratulating Vettriano on his OBE, was viewed as a significant development.

His detractors claim his work lacks depth, but his supporters argue his only crime is to be popular and accessible.

Last year, Vettriano had to endure criticism of his technique and predictions of a slump in sales, but next month Vettriano fever should return when Dance Me to the End of Love goes under the hammer in Edinburgh.

Richard Longwill, director of Edinburgh auction house Shapes, which is handling the sale, said: "His pictures have never been well represented in terms of gallery space so this is a very welcome development."

Scotland On Sunday art critic Iain Gale was less enthused, likening it to a show room for a factory production line.

He said: "I won't be going. I just can't work up any enthusiasm for him. He just leaves me cold. I just find it as tacky as ever. I presume he has a number of fans in London because his work sells very well there."

Earlier this year Vettriano was forced to defend himself against charges of plagiarism, after he was accused of copying his most famous paintings from a reference book. The artist said that the reference volumes at the centre of the criticism were there precisely to give painters a source of inspiration.