• June 16, 2022

Jack Vettriano and the “Singing Butler” scandal

Reading a deeper interview about Jack Vettriano, it seems that he is a very complicated man who is misunderstood as an artist by critics who have been saying he is garbage for so long that they won’t admit they were wrong from the start.

Jack Vettriano is quick to admit his need to be connected to what he is painting and I think this applies to most people who are creating something out of themselves. In the case of Jack Vettriano, the images of him have a beautiful allure that makes you try to pick out different aspects of the composition and ponder what might happen next in the scene.

Jack Vettriano produces work that reveals the sensuality of a certain type of lady, reveling in her confidence and sexuality. Jack Vettriano paints scenes that he likes to look at, that he likes to feel and that he would be at home to be a part of. His own hedonistic lifestyle seems to be reflected on the canvas but frankly, who cares, this man’s work is brilliant, loved the world over and printed and reprinted all over the world.

Given that Jack Vettriano’s prints are distributed all over the world, outselling the likes of Klimt and Monet, it’s no surprise that this man of Fife’s work is well loved by the public. His annual income from his printing license alone is worth over half a million a year, which on any level is somebody doing something right.

Speaking of money, one of his most controversial pieces, “The Singing Butler”, fetched £750,000 at Sotherby’s, which if the art were based on a purely monetary level would point to someone who is well regarded by collectors (if not for collections).

“The Singing Butler” came under fire from critics when it was revealed that Vettriano had used the human forms from an artists’ reference book and used them in the composition of the piece. But as Jack Vettriano rightly pointed out, the figures don’t make the piece simply add to the story being told on the canvas.

Obviously this was immediately addressed by the art establishment who had backed into their elite corner and spoke of “plagarism”, but as Mr. Vettriano himself said: “But the background and the story, they were mine. Don’t tell me That’s not creative. Anyone who knows anything about art will know that an artist will do anything to get an image on a tracing paper, pulling pictures out of magazines, anything. I’m a nightmare in my dentist’s waiting room. What the story implied was that I took The Singing Butler completely out of a book and that’s not fair. A lot of artists use photos that Francis Bacon took, I still do. The thing is, it was The Singing Butler. If it was a painting from which No one had heard of it, it wouldn’t have been a problem.”

Jack Vettriano is a great artist who produces great art, let’s hope that in 2009 he gets the recognition he truly deserves.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *