Jack Vettriano: ‘His paintings are like a double cheeseburger in a greasy wrapper’
The Scot painted singing butlers, ‘broads’ in bras and tough guys in suits, in works critics found lurid, chintzy, devoid of irony and often sexist. But they were also hugely popular – showing the power of ‘I get it’ art
Jack Vettriano: a life in pictures
In 1992, Jack Vettriano’s painting The Singing Butler was rejected by the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Anyone who has seen some of the dross picked for display in the RA’s annual open submission collision of amateur artists and big stars in recent decades will be thinking: “Ouch, must’ve been a real dud.” But The Singing Butler not only wasn’t a dud, it went on to become one of the most ubiquitous and – whisper it – iconic British paintings since the second world war.
And that tells you a lot about the Scottish artist, who has died at the age of 73. The art establishment has always despised him, but the rest of the world – if you can accept some awkward, problematic conception of “ordinary people” – absolutely lapped up his art. He wasn’t a household name like Tracey Emin or David Hockney. He wasn’t lauded by the art world. He sure wasn’t celebrated by critics. Vettriano was something else, something almost sinful – he was popular.
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Jack Vettriano: a life in pictures
The Scottish artist – whose Singing Butler has been reproduced three million times, and who counted Jack Nicholson, Tim Rice and Terence Conran as fans – has died in France aged 73 • Scottish ...The Guardian - 6h -
Scottish painter Jack Vettriano dies aged 73
The artist was found dead at his apartment in Nice in southern France on Saturday, his publicist says. The Scottish painter Jack Vettriano has been found dead at his apartment in Nice in the south ...The Guardian - 8h -
Self-taught painter Jack Vettriano dies in France at age 73
The publicist for Scottish painter Jack Vettriano says he has been found dead in his apartment in FranceABC News - 7h -
Singing Butler painter Jack Vettriano dies aged 73
The artist, best known for The Singing Butler, was found dead at his apartment in the south of France.BBC News - 1h -
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