Jack Vettriano
From the age of 10, his father sent him out delivering papers and milk, cleaning windows and picking potatoes – any job that would earn money.
For a short time in the late 1960s, he had a summer job as a bingo caller at the Beachcomber Amusements on Leven Promenade.
In November 1999, Vettriano's work was shown for the first time in New York City, when 21 paintings were displayed at The International 20th Century Arts Fair at The Armory.
[10] In 1996 Sir Terence Conran commissioned Vettriano to create a series of paintings for his new Bluebird Gastrodome in London.
[14] The composition for the painting, as discovered by Scottish designer Sandy Robb,[15] had been sourced from the Illustrator’s Figure Reference Manual.
[12] In March 2010, Days of Wine And Roses was opened by Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond at the Kirkcaldy Museum.
[17] Vettriano received an Order of the British Empire (OBE) award for Services to Visual Arts during a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on Thursday 27 November 2003.
The award led MSP Ted Brocklebank to file a motion in parliament calling for Vettriano's contribution to Scottish culture to be recognised.
[24] First Minister, Alex Salmond said of Vettriano, "He is a wonderful artist of considerable talent and achievement and this is a magnificent tribute to the special place he holds in the hearts of people in Scotland.
[30][31] In September 2013, a major exhibition, Jack Vettriano: A Retrospective, opened at Glasgow's Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.
[33] In January 2012, menswear brand Stefano Ricci launched its Spring Summer 2012 collection with a campaign inspired by the work of Jack Vettriano.
"[38] Vettriano is a self-taught artist in drawing and perspective who manipulates paint in veiled glazes and meaningful shadows.
[41] According to The Daily Telegraph he has been described as the Jeffrey Archer of the art world, a purveyor of "badly conceived soft porn",[42] and a painter of "dim erotica".
"[12] Richard Calvocoressi, at the time director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, said: "I’d be more than happy to say that we think him an indifferent painter and that he is very low down our list of priorities (whether or not we can afford his work, which at the moment we obviously can’t).
[46] In The Scotsman, George Kerevan wrote "He suffers all the same criticisms of the early French Impressionists: mere wallpaper, too simplistic in execution and subject, too obviously erotic.
"[47] Alice Jones wrote in The Independent that Vettriano has been labelled a chauvinist whose "women are sexual objects, frequently half naked and vulnerable, always in stockings and stilettos.
'[49] Alongside fellow Fifer, author Ian Rankin, Vettriano put in a cameo appearance in a video with Scottish indie band Saint Jude's Infirmary made for BBC Scotland's The Music Show.
The video was filmed on Portobello Beach in Edinburgh and included visual references to two of Vettriano's most famous paintings, Elegy for a Dead Admiral and The Singing Butler.
[50] In May 2008, Vettriano collaborated with Sir Jackie Stewart, on a triptych of paintings entitled Tension, Timing, Triumph – Monaco 1971.
The originals hang in Stewart's private collection in the UK and the images have been published as a limited edition print.
[55] The brand was launched at the Forth Floor Bar & Restaurant in collaboration with Louise Masson, GM of Harvey Nichols, Edinburgh with an auction of four signed giclée paintings raising over £7000 for charity[56] Bottle sets of #1, #2 and #3 were donated to the Lunch With an Old Bag, a charity auction on 7 September 2018 at Prestonfield House in Edinburgh In 2004 Vettriano set up a scholarship for University of St Andrews to fund a student who would not otherwise be able to attend university.
[57] Vettriano has donated several works of art to be sold in aid of charities, including the Terrence Higgins Trust.
[58] In September 2001, Vettriano donated a painting, Beautiful Dreamer to a charity auction, which was held at Sotheby's in aid of Help the Hospices.
[61] In 2010, Vettriano created a postcard – alongside names such as Tracey Emin and Florence Welch – as part of a British Airways campaign for Sport Relief.
"[69][70] In 2022 he announced that he had two significantly younger East European muses who had helped him overcome cocaine and alcohol addiction and inspired him to paint again.
