Jack Vettriano self-portraits go on display to mark one year since his death
The works have been loaned over a six-year period
National Galleries of Scotland is to showcase two self-portrait works by Scottish painter Jack Vettriano to mark one year since his passing.
The artist’s estate will loan two self-portraits Portrait of the Artist and Homage to Fontana? over a six-year period. Portrait of the Artist will go on display on the one-year anniversary of his passing on 1 March, at National Galleries Scotland: Portrait in Edinburgh. The painting will stay on display until early 2029 when it will then be swapped with Homage to Fontana?.
Vettriano left school at 15 to become a mining engineer but took up painting after a girlfriend gave him a box of watercolours for his 21st birthday.
The self-taught artist drew inspiration from works at Kirkcaldy Galleries, studying paintings from artists such as Samuel Peploe and William McTaggart so intently that he feared arousing the suspicions of gallery staff.
His breakthrough came in 1998 when he submitted two paintings to the Royal Scottish Academy’s annual show and both sold on the first day, inspiring him to become a full-time artist. His works garnered international acclaim, leading to exhibitions in cities such as Edinburgh, London, Hong Kong, Johannesburg and New York.
His 1992 painting the The Singing Butler is among his most famed work and shows an elegant couple dancing on a storm-swept beach accompanied by their butler and maid, becoming a best-selling image in Britain.
Among those to have acquired Vettriano paintings are Jack Nicholson, Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Tim Rice and Robbie Coltrane.
Portrait of the Artist, painted in 1993, is an early self-portrait by Vettriano and was painted a year after The Singing Butler. It depicts the artist taking a break from painting at his Edinburgh flat where he had a studio.
The cinematic Homage to Fontana? was painted later in 1999. The title and slashes in the painted canvas reference the Argentine-Italian artist Lucio Fontana (1899–1968) whose slashed canvases of the 1950s and 60s blurred the distinction between two and three dimensions to create ‘an infinite dimension’.
Imogen Gibbon, Head of Portraiture & Photography & Chief Curator at the National Galleries Scotland, said: ‘‘We’re thrilled to be welcoming visitors to the Portrait gallery to come and see Portrait of the Artist – by Jack Vettriano. It feels particularly significant that we are able to showcase a self-portrait to celebrate Vettriano’s contribution to Scottish culture on the anniversary of his death. This portrait and the subsequent work Homage to Fontana? will take their place on loan in The Modern Portrait display amongst the many other contemporary portraits of Scots who have made an impact at home in Scotland and internationally. National Galleries of Scotland extend our thanks to the artists estate, who came to us with this idea and supported us to make it happen'.’
Carolyn Osborne, Director, Jack Vettriano Publishing Limited, said: “Jack was known as The People’s Painter and it’s entirely fitting that the public will be able to see one of his paintings in such a beautiful setting within a mile of where it was painted.”