In December 2003 the painter Jack Vettriano, a coalminer's son, met his parents off the train from Scotland on his way to collect an OBE. Over the last few years Vettriano has had a meteoric rise to fame - emerging from the unlikely background of the Scottish coalfields, unknown and untutored, he has become Scotland's most successful and controversial contemporary artist. Appearing on posters and cards, mugs and umbrellas, prints of his work outsell Van Gogh, Dali and Monet and his paintings have been acquired by celebrities around the world. 'The Singing Butler', Britain's most reproduced painting, fetched a record GBP744,800 at auction in April 2004. Vettriano's images have an often mysterious narrative and are a gateway to an alluring yet sinister world. Daylight scenes of heady optimism, painted against backdrops of beaches and racetracks, are counterbalanced by more disquieting canvases of complex night-time liaisons in bars and clubs, bedrooms and ballrooms. Both sexes are clearly styled - the men hard-edged and mysterious, the women seductive and enigmatic. Yet beneath the confident posturing, Vettriano recognizes our inherent human frailty, that there is no victor in the struggle between duplicity and desire. Men and women are ultimately trapped by the machinations of intense love and passion with little control over their destiny. 'Jack Vettriano' presents about thirty new images, as well as some recently surfaced works, plus the best of the paintings previously published in 'Lovers and Other Strangers' and 'Fallen Angels', also by Pavilion. In March 2004 Melvin Bragg's The South Bank Show broadcast a programme dedicated to Jack entitled Jack Vettriano: The People's Painter. Reissued in smaller user-friendly format.
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About the Author
Jack Vettriano left school at 15 to become a mining engineer. For his 21st birthday, a girlfriend gave him a set of watercolour paints and from then on he spent much of his spare time teaching himself to paint. Over the last 20 years, interest in Vettriano's work has grown consistently and he has had sell-out solo exhibitions in Edinburgh, London, Hong Kong and New York. In 2004, his best known painting, The Singing Butler was sold for close to GBP750,000 and he was awarded an OBE for Services to the Visual Arts. Vettriano divides his time between Fife, London and Nice.
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It is an image that has become as recognizable as van Gogh's sunflowers and Monet's water lilies, and in reproduction outsells both of them in Europe and the UK. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
It is an image that has become as recognizable as van Gogh's sunflowers and Monet's water lilies, and in reproduction outsells both of them in Europe and the UK. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
74 of 76 people found the following review helpful
By Robert Dixon
Format:Hardcover
This is a nicely produced book on the art of Scottish artist Jack Vettriano. If you are looking for an illustrated guide to the work of Jack Vettriano - then this is the book for you. Even though some of his better known works are missing from this volume it is still a good selection.
The reproductions are well thought out and presented, with the exception of one or two. These suffer the same fate as other books on the artist in that they are printed across the spine of the book.
If, like some, you are looking for an insight into the life of the artist, then you may be dissapointed here for there is very little narrative and, what is there is well known already. There is still room for an in depth look at the artist as well as that other vital ingredient, the artist's models.
This is an excellent illustrative guide to the work of the artist with a large number of well presented reproductions. Highly recomended for both the new-comer and the dedicated Jack Vettriano fan.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Although published in 2004, 'Jack Vettriano: A Life', remains currently the most comprehensive visual reference book on Vettriano available to date covering, as it does, works from 1992 to 2004. The paintings are helpfully arranged both chronologically and around the fifteen exhibitions held of Vettriano's work during this twelve year period. This is the first book to list the paintings that appeared in Vettriano's exhibitions and as such, provides useful information for anyone wanting to study the artist's work and career in detail. A selection of paintings not featured in exhibitons are also illustrated in this book. Until a definitive catalogue raisonne is published of Vettriano's work, this is the book to go for if you are looking for a broad overview of the artist's career. The text is provided by Anthony Quinn, film critic for The Independent and himself a collector of Vettriano's work; it is biographical in content covering the artist's childhood through to his rise to prominence as an artist and ending in 2004, the year in which Vettriano was awarded an OBE for Services to the Visual Arts, was featured in a major documentary for The South Bank Show and the year in which The Singing Butler sold for just over £740,000. If you are looking for information on Vettriano's working methods, his cultural influences and his influence on mainstream culture, you should take a look at Jack Vettriano: Studio Life, published in 2008. Studio Life has very few illustrations of Vettriano's paintings but it features an in depth essay by Tom Rawstorne on Vettriano's work and how his life informs his work.
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful
By Benjamin
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
The introduction and subsequent text is very brief, and provides a glimpse into the artist's background and rise to success. The text makes little if any critical comment about the artist's work, perhaps leaving the paintings to speak for themselves. The book concludes with a list of the artist's paintings and exhibitions. The book really is all about the pictures.
There are about 160 full colour reproductions of Vettriano's paintings of which about half dozen are small images illustrating the text, there are over thirty full page bleed pictures many of which in fact amount to a page and a half and include one double page spread (the best in the book?). However the bulk of the illustrations range from almost full page images to those which occupy about half a page or occasionally less. The quality of the reproduction is excellent, and the varied and attractive layout suits the images well, bold yet without detracting from the work.
For those of us who are perhaps used to seeing Vettriano's paintings merely as small reproductions adorning cards and the like, it is a revelation to see them produced so well and to a good size. Seeing them so it is easy to label his technique as commercial and slick; but there is no denying the immediate appeal and impact. Whether or not you are a fan of Vettriano's this is a book worth having, it shows the range of his work, from the dark and sensual to some very appealing high key paintings. Altogether it is a most sumptuous volume.
There are about 160 full colour reproductions of Vettriano's paintings of which about half dozen are small images illustrating the text, there are over thirty full page bleed pictures many of which in fact amount to a page and a half and include one double page spread (the best in the book?). However the bulk of the illustrations range from almost full page images to those which occupy about half a page or occasionally less. The quality of the reproduction is excellent, and the varied and attractive layout suits the images well, bold yet without detracting from the work.
For those of us who are perhaps used to seeing Vettriano's paintings merely as small reproductions adorning cards and the like, it is a revelation to see them produced so well and to a good size. Seeing them so it is easy to label his technique as commercial and slick; but there is no denying the immediate appeal and impact. Whether or not you are a fan of Vettriano's this is a book worth having, it shows the range of his work, from the dark and sensual to some very appealing high key paintings. Altogether it is a most sumptuous volume.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A lovely book.
For any Jack Vettriano fan this book is a must! It was a gift for a friend who was delighted with it.
Published 1 month ago by Gilly Caddy
5.0 out of 5 stars
Coffee Tablebook
Fantastic coffee table edition if you love Jacks work this is the book for you. You can look at it time and time again.
Published 1 month ago by Tideswell
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jack Vettriano
Anyone who loves art and artists of today, will love this book, he is so brilliant, and the book is well put together
Published 4 months ago by Jeannette
5.0 out of 5 stars
jack vettriano:a life
a brilliant book, showing some fantastic works of art. if you are a fan of the man you cant go wrong with this book. Read more
Published 10 months ago by soul boy
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jack Vettriano: A Life
My sister is a great fan of Jack Vettriano so I bought this book for her.
I was very impressed when it arrived and my sister was thrilled. Read more
I was very impressed when it arrived and my sister was thrilled. Read more
Published 17 months ago by R. Y. Evans
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful for fans of Vetriano
I bought this last year for myself and bought this for a friend for christmas. It is a beautiful book and very informative. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Maristubbs
3.0 out of 5 stars
small book
this book is a smaller version of one which I purchased a couple of months ago and I was very disapointed that the pictures were crammed on a much smaller page giving the book less... Read more
Published 17 months ago by sydd
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good work (even if I didn't like it)
I didn't know anything about Jack Vettriano's work, but I was interested in it because some fashion pictures done based on it. Read more
Published 22 months ago by booklover
5.0 out of 5 stars
scottish artist
It is pleasing to note that at least one Scottish gallery- The Scottish National Portrait Gallery -has finally recognised the importance of this artists work by hanging a self... Read more
Published on 17 Feb 2011 by G. I. Forbes
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bluebellgirl
I love Jack Vettriano - and I love this book, a true coffee table art book, full of wonderful text and photographs of his work. Really inspirational. Read more
Published on 6 Nov 2010 by bluebellgirl
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