Jack set to make a splash at auction as new works go under the hammer
A COLLECTION of works by Scottish artist Jack Vettriano will be auctioned this week – and could fetch up to £160,000.
Mr Vettriano said he was inspired to create the paintings after reading a poem by Norman MacCaig entitled Power Dive.
The poem was published in the book Fallen Angels – an anthology of old and new writing based around Mr Vettriano’s images, ‘complementing them, matching their moods, and extending the lives of the characters beyond their frozen moments on canvas’.
Years later, when revisiting the book, Mr Vettriano was inspired to paint a new series of works.
The Fife-born painter went from being a self-taught artist who was turned down by art college to one of the world’s most sought-after living artists.
Now his fans can snap up a selection of paintings when they are auctioned at Bonhams in Edinburgh on Wednesday. The five works up for grabs include two early paintings, signed Jack Hoggan, his birth name.
One of the later works, Between Darkness and Dawn, has a price tag of between £50,000 and £70,000. Painted in 1998, it features a man straightening his tie as a woman fastens her dress. Another work, called Power Dive, depicts a naked women about to plunge into a swimming pool. It is valued at around £50,000. Mr Vettriano took up painting as a hobby in the 1970s after a girlfriend gave him a set of watercolours as a present.
His works, which tread a thin line between glamour and sleaze, have been bought by the likes of Hollywood star Jack Nicholson, Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Tim Rice and Robbie Coltrane.
They have featured in exhibitions in Edinburgh, London and New York. Mr Vettriano was made an OBE in 2003.
His most popular painting, The Singing Butler, sold for £744,000 in 2004 and is still one of the bestselling posters in Britain.