Vettriano breaks silence to strike back over plagiarism claims

Published on Sunday 30 October 2005 00:22

SCOTTISH artist Jack Vettriano has broken his silence on the controversy that saw him accused of plagiarising his most famous painting from a reference book.

Vettriano has accused the artistic establishment of disliking "rampant heterosexual behaviour" and of resenting him because of his popularity with the public and because he does not come from a traditional artistic background.

The artist defends himself against charges of plagiarism by countering that the reference volumes at the centre of the criticism are there precisely to give people a source of inspiration.

Vettriano's outburst follows the revelation that his most famous picture, The Singing Butler - which shows an elegant couple dancing on a windswept beach and which sold last year for 750,000 - was based on an illustration in an artistic reference book costing 16.99.

Vettriano, who earns 500,000 a year just in royalties from prints of his work, said: "When an artist wants to create a painting he will forage around anywhere to get material.

"At the time, in 1991, I was sitting in Edinburgh in a small studio. I didn't have money, I didn't have access to models and I was using whatever material I could find from reference books, from magazines, from anything. I wish I could say that there is some terribly romantic tale behind the painting (The Singing Butler), but there isn't."

At the time, Vettriano says, he was staging an exhibition in Perthshire.

"This old lady who had seen a painting I had done of a guy digging for a ball on a beach said: 'You know son, you're very good at doing beaches.'

"I got to thinking about all the things people do on beaches and how the theme of love is played out on beaches. How you go for a walk with your new love and how they have a romantic feel.

"So I used that manual for precisely what it is there for. To help people who don't have access to models to construct something. I wasn't doing anything the book wasn't intended for.

"I just wish people would look at the figures in that book, compare them with that painting and then tell me honestly that the guy who painted it isn't creative - that he doesn't have something going for him"

The artist added: "What people don't appreciate is that the manual was only a part of the process. At the time it was no more than a tool, just like brushes or a canvas.

"A manual alone can't give you the idea for a painting, its composition, its colours, its atmosphere.

"I didn't set out to paint a popular painting. I wanted to create an evocative and unique work, and that's what I achieved."

Vettriano also defended the sexual content of many of his paintings, saying: "For all the technological advances man has made, he has never managed to control himself. Sex is just too powerful a force.

"But the interesting thing is that the art world doesn't like rampant heterosexual behaviour. Somehow they think that is a bit tawdry, not what real art should be."

He admitted that recent weeks had sapped his spirits and added that he felt "ups and downs" more keenly than many other people.

He also admitted to having had relationships with some of his models and that he had even gone to brothels and downmarket bars in order to conduct research and get ideas for his art.

Vettriano said: "I have done a lot in the name of research and I have enjoyed it too.

"But along with liberation comes a need for self-discipline and I think sometimes I have been found sorely wanting."

Vettriano has been dubbed the "People's Painter" and his paintings have been bought by celebrities including Hollywood actor Jack Nicholson, comedian Robbie Coltrane and Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

Vettriano now lives in homes in Scotland, London and France, can afford to dress in Armani clothes and owns a vintage Mercedes, as well as an Audi TT.

Striking out at the arts establishment in characteristic fashion, the son of a Fife miner added: "I'm an outsider in so far as I do not have one connection in the art world.

"I taught myself to paint in a back room. I think their feathers are very ruffled because, regardless of what they say, the public love what I do."

Born in 1951, Vettriano left school at the age of 15 and trained as a mining engineer. He did not take up painting until he was 21, when a girlfriend gave him a set of watercolours. He did not start painting seriously until his mid-30s and his big breakthrough came in 1988 when he had two paintings accepted by the Royal Scottish Academy for its summer show.

The works sold on the first day and three galleries wrote to him offering to represent him. Now his works are shown on everything from greetings cards to coffee mugs.

Despite the furore - or perhaps because of it - there has been a huge interest in next month's release of two limited edition prints to be launched at the Portland Gallery in London.

It is also expected that when his 25 new paintings go on sale there next year, they are expected to fetch between 35,000 and 150,000 each.

On his personal life, Vettriano has admitted that he believes it is unlikely he will settle down in a relationship.

He said: "Creative people are stifled by domesticity. They seem to have late nights and bad mornings. I need to be able to put myself in positions where things can happen - and they do.

"You kid yourself into thinking that you need this sort of angst, to be on the edge all the time, and I seem to be able to work better when I am just a bit unhappy. I am by nature a bit melancholic."