Exhibition is postponed a second time to ‘preserve the experience’

A Vettriano exhibition has been postponed for a second time thanks to the continuing uncertainty over Covid-19.

The showcase – Jack Vettriano: The Early Years – was originally due to take place last year but was rescheduled to this summer.

However, it will now go ahead at Kirkcaldy Galleries from June to October 2022.

Onfife, which manages the Galleries, said it had taken the decision due to uncertainty over when social distancing and travel restrictions will be lifted.

It has been working in close collaboration with the Fife artist and collectors who are lending works from private collections.

Michelle Sweeney, Onfife’s director of creative developments, said: “It hasn’t been an easy decision to make but such is the uncertainty still ahead that we cannot guarantee visitors the great experience that we had planned.

“We also had to take into account the level of interest from throughout the UK and beyond from Vettriano fans who want to travel to Fife for the exhibition to see his works – some for the first and potentially only time.”

The postponement means the exhibition will now run for two months longer than originally planned. All current ticket holders will be contacted to arrange new dates before tickets go on general sale again.

The exhibition has generated widespread interest, particularly because it will feature almost a dozen paintings produced before Vettriano became a full-time artist.

They are signed Jack Hoggan, which is his birth name.

The artist, who was born in St Andrews in 1951 and grew up in Methil, decided it was time to publicly acknowledge his early works in recognition of the process that took him from a self-taught artist turned down by art college to one of the world’s most highly-sought-after living painters.

The Early Years exhibition will show paintings created from when he was in his early 20s until he moved to London in 2000.

“

We had to take into account the huge level of interest