Jack Vettriano : Your opinions?

Note how the author uses the "I'll be accused of being a snob for saying this" line in exactly the same way that Melanie Phillips uses "It's not politcally correct of me to say this, but...." method.

x-post

Like there's something wrong with being a snob. DO NOT HAVE OPINIONS.

Ha xpost. Kate OTM

No matter how ugly you think a french-style number seven is, two of them added together will still be 14. Up will always be up, down will always be down and combining two parts hydrogen with one part oxygen will always give you water.

But whether or not a picture is any good on an aesthetic level is purely subjective, it's all about what the individual likes. It's the same with music.

Anyway, I could argue about this all day, but unfortunately it's home time...

Has he been discussed on the soaps? Seems like the kind of thing the writers would think people would think was funny.

(Are you two sitting next to each other, RJG and Pfunkboys?)

What I dislike about his art is the way that it looks, the motifs, the things it references, which all seem obvious and overdone.

Then again, this is often the criticism hurled against things I do like, such as the Pre-Raphaelites. However, I think in the PRB case, the kitch element comes from the condition of removal from its culture. While the kistch element in Vettriano comes from being in context of culture?

I don't know. I suspect I would dislike it without having read the "controversy" first.

... River City!

PS: presumably at some point Mark Rothko wandered into a gallery, looked at famous picture and said "S'all right, but it's a bit busy. I reckon I could do much better by just using three colours, two squares and a canvas the size of New Mexico." At which point the Guardian's art critic clipped him around the ear for such stupidity.

Oh bollocks to all that, if I think something is crap, it's crap.

Nonsense. Any 'fule know that if I think something's crap, it's crap and that's the end of it.

And now I really am going home.

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The best thing about it has been the fact that it was the Daily Record doing it and not a so called "stuffy paper".

Of course im sure the Daily Record letters page is full of support for Vettriano.

http://www.vettriano-art.com/shadowvets/thesingingbutlerl.jpg

What buttons does this press in people?

Thing is, it just seems that the sexual subtext, or fantasy subtext is so obvious and "here is your escapist sexual fantasy number seven" that it doesn't actually appeal at all to *my* particular sexuality/notions of romance, or even seem remotely sexy or romantic. Let alone mysterious.

http://www.vettriano-art.com/shadowvets/thesingingbutlerl.jpg

However...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/RJG/ed.jpg

He's better than Anne Geddes.

Well, once you see the name in the left hand corner, you think:"PHWOAR, the owner has loads of CASH!"

"It is a world that has no worries, no problems and is the ultimate romantic spot on the planet. Dancing along the beach in a tuxedo and an elegant evening gown, the couple pictured are sheltered from any possibility of rain by a bowler-hatted, tuxedo-dressed butler holding an umbrella, who serenades them as they dance.

"You do not see the couple's faces, but you know what their eyes are saying. They are in love. It's an unbelievably moving piece."

I don't think there's any mystery. Some chinless wonder is trying to impress Lady Duckingworth with how madly romantic he is by insisting on dressing up and going out dancing on a rainy beach. He's not so romantic that he wants to get wet, though, so he gets his domestic staff to hold umbrellas over them even though it means the they get soaked instead. The butler is singing The Red Flag.

i liked the guardian piece; it's rare someone from that side of the press nails their prejudices to the mast with such vigour and it provides some kind of counterbalance to associated newspapers ridiculing whatever's on the fourth plinth.

this is the most rockist thread for a long time!

One of Jack Vettriano's most popular paintings, Dance Me To The End Of Love, has been sold at auction in Edinburgh.

The image shows a couple waltzing in the mist. The print is one of the world's best-selling posters, but the original has rarely been seen.

The canvas was bought by a Scots art collector in 1998 and remained in the woman's private possession until now.

It was snapped up by a buyer with a bid of £290,000. Including the buyer's premium, the total price was £337,000.

It was sold to an unidentified bidder from the floor at Saturday's auction.

'Luminescent quality'

Richard Longwill, director of Edinburgh auction house Shapes, said the sold original had seldom been seen.

He added: "Interestingly, the original is much wider than the printed version and has a great feeling of light and space.

"Vettriano handles the light skilfully; the moonlight bathing the dancing couples has an ethereal, luminescent quality."

Self-taught Vettriano has been largely shunned by the traditional art world, with major UK galleries refusing to acquire his works.

However, the Fife-born artist has huge popular appeal.

His work The Singing Butler sold for almost £750,000 in 2004, the highest price ever paid for a Scottish painting at auction.

The artist last year denied claims that he privately copied characters from The Singing Butler and other paintings from a 1987 illustrators' guide.

What a horrible painting.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41715000/jpg/_41715910_glasgowpic300pa.jpg

One of Scotland's best loved paintings is to be returned to its "spiritual home" on Friday.

Salvador Dali's Christ Of St John Of The Cross will be re-hung at Glasgow's Kelvingrove Art Gallery more than 50 years after it was first unveiled.

The painting was bought for £8,200 in 1952 and is now said to be worth tens of millions.

It has been shown at another Glasgow museum since 1993 but will return to Kelvingrove to mark its reopening.

The art gallery and museum has undergone a three-year refurbishment and will open next month.

The piece by the Spanish surrealist artist, which shows the figure of Christ on the cross from above, was recently voted Scotland's best loved painting in a newspaper poll.

Carmelite friar

Glasgow Lord Provost Liz Cameron will unveil the work on its return.

She said: "It will be fantastic to see the Dali, our greatest painting, hanging in its spiritual home at Kelvingrove.

"This makes a trip to Kelvingrove all the more essential for any visitor to Glasgow."

The title of the painting was said to have been inspired by a drawing made by a Spanish Carmelite friar who was canonised as St John of The Cross in the 16th Century.

It was made after the saint had a vision in which he saw the crucifixion from above.

Dali painted his crucifixion scene set above the rocky harbour of his home village of Port Lligat in Spain.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/6967794.stm

Idiots with too much money

You're really obsessed with this!

Not about vettriano but this will only appeal to scots anyway

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7811408.stm

A painting by Titian has sparked a political row after the Scottish Government confirmed it had pledged a "significant sum" towards its purchase.

It followed newspaper reports that the government was contributing £17.5m towards acquiring the work of art.

The National Gallery of Scotland and London's National Gallery are hoping to raise £50m to buy Diana and Actaeon.

But Glasgow MP, Ian Davidson, questioned the logic of spending such large sums during an economic downturn.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme, Mr Davidson, the member for Glasgow South West, said: "It is difficult to argue that this is part of Britain's cultural heritage when it's a picture by a long dead Venetian - it's not as if it's Jock McTitian.

"There are substantial numbers of works of art that I think it's worth spending public money on, what I don't believe is worth while is spending this obscene amount of money, particularly when the National Gallery already has around 20 Titians.

"Very few people will ever have heard of Titian, many will have thought he was an Italian football player. What is the point of wasting this money in this way?"

Patronising fucker.

Glad he's not my MP

Wonder if his ex-colleague John Reid is getting a scout to check on him ;)

ex-colleague? Did I miss something? also, what on earth are you talking about?

Also, it hasn't been confirmed, and the painting is in the National Gallery of Scotland anyway so it's not like some random painting they're snapping up for the hell of it, and there's money coming from elsewhere (lottery money, for starters, which used to be the "OMG what a waste of people's money" strawman). I sort of agree with him that there are probably better uses of £17.5m, but couching it in "lol my constituents are all philistines" terms makes him seem like a total chump. Maybe he genuinely thought he was being funny rather than patronising, but I can't be arsed to listen to him to find out, tbh.

I think the uses of public money for arts debate is more interesting than an MP going for lolz on the radio. More constructive criticism from Davidson here, btw.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-16887384

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2013/sep/19/jack-vettriano-tom-jones-art

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/arts/visual-arts/art-review-jack-vettriano-glasgow-1-3116959

Scotsman otm. Guardian otm too but it's not as entertaining or thorough a knife job.

otm

I would like to read AL Kennedy's catalogue essay on him. I imagine it's the best possible case for the defence.

You can read it.

http://issuu.com/heartbreak_gallery/docs/preview_jv_retrospective_e-catalogu

Usual bobbins about mysterious worlds of intrigue that conjure up stories in the mind of the viewer. Which is not entirely wrong but I think it's a cheap trick. Throw a bunch of enigmatic figures on a canvas and let the audience do the hard work.

thanks ledge, will look now.

o ffs it's a clicky-turny, i've already fucked this how do i unzoom

And technically he is... not great. Scotsman zing is faint praise par excellence: Vettriano has a strong sense of colour and a graphic grasp of two-dimensional space and these paintings portray a one-dimensional world.

He's basically an illustrator done good, and I wouldn't begrudge him if it weren't for the creepy misogyny.

Kennedy seems confused about The Adminsitrafion of Justice. It's a clothed man and a naked women and he thinks it's about a man who gave his clothes away? Also, ugh that title. Also, Jesus H Christ I just GISed it.

http://www.jackvettriano.com/exhibitions/summers-remembered/the-administration-of-justice/

who buys this shit?
http://www.jackvettriano.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Nightime-Rituals_II.jpg

She's holding a cigarette and there's another lit one in the ashtray? INTRIGUING.