Previously unseen paintings by Jack Vettriano will feature in an exhibition at the gallery where he sought inspiration as a young artist.
The exhibition at the Kirkcaldy Galleries in Fife will include 12 oil paintings he produced in his early twenties and thirties, signed with his birth name, Jack Hoggan.
The works, painted before he achieved international success in the 1990s, will be displayed alongside pieces that sold for five- and six-figure sums.
It will be the 70-year-old artist’s first retrospective since a major exhibition at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in 2013 and the first to focus on his formative years and early career.
Although widely panned by critics, Jack Vettriano has sold his paintings for hundreds of thousands of pounds and has an estimated net worth of £3.6 million. Pictured: Sweet Bird of Youth by Vettriano, who has already been seen
Vettriano, left school at 15 to become a mining engineer but took up painting after a girlfriend gave him a box of watercolors for his 21st birthday. Pictured: The Billy Boys by Vettriano, whose prints sell for hundreds of pounds
Self Portrait, a 2002 painting by Jack Vettriano which will feature in an exhibition which will include previously unseen works, unlike this one, at the Kirkcaldy Galleries in Fife, where he sought inspiration as a young artist
Vettriano, from Fife, left school at 15 to become a mining engineer but took up painting after a girlfriend gave him a box of watercolors for his 21st birthday.
The artist learned by copying Old Masters, Impressionists and Scottish artists and was inspired by works he saw in the Kirkcaldy Galleries, run by cultural charity OnFife.
He said: “I grew up admiring the work of so many great Scottish painters in what was then my local gallery.
Jack Vettriano (pictured) was once called ‘not a 21st-century Van Gogh’, but rather ‘the Tom Jones of art: tall, bold, brassy and devoid of inner truth’.
Vettriano’s most famous painting, The Singing Butler, featuring a couple dancing on a beach despite an approaching storm, sold for nearly £750,000 at auction in 2004
“Kirkcaldy has a large permanent collection and a free entry policy, so I have the galleries to thank for the start of my art education.”
The artist later adopted his mother’s maiden name to mark a break with the works sold under his surname Hoggan.
The new exhibition opens in June and will include one of two paintings Vettriano presented at the Royal Scottish Academy’s annual exhibition in 1988.
Sculptor David Mach spoke in support of Vettriano, saying in The Scotsman: “If he was a fashion designer, Jack would be up there.” Pictured: Vettriano’s painting Mad Dogs. Images of the 12 previously unseen paintings featured in his exhibition have yet to be released.
Mr Mach added: ‘It’s just snobbery in the art world. Anyway, whatever, he probably makes more money than Damien Hirst anyway. Pictured: Vettriano at his home in Battersea, London
Both paintings sold on the first day, a turning point that inspired him to become a full-time artist.
Among the 57 private loans will be pieces such as Billy Boys, Valentine Rose and Bluebird in Bonneville, while two works from OnFife’s collection, including a self-portrait, will also feature.
Alice Pearson, OnFife Exhibitions Curator, said: “This is the first time that Jack has agreed to exhibit painted works simply as a hobby alongside later pieces which have won sold-out shows in London and New York.
Painter Jack Vettriano, whose work has been branded ‘dim erotica’ but sells for hundreds of thousands of pounds, has slammed the art establishment for snubbing his work
“The exhibit will highlight the diversity of subjects and styles Jack tackled while learning his craft, giving him the confidence and technical ability to develop his own identifiable style.”
Also included will be Long Time Gone, which takes place against the backdrop of the now demolished Methil Power Station, a once familiar landmark of Fife.
The exhibition, which covers the artist’s career up to 2000, was originally scheduled for 2019 but has been postponed twice due to Covid-19 restrictions.
