Provenance

Everard Read, Johannesburg, 2004.

Private Collection.

Exhibited

Everard Read, Johannesburg, Jack Vettriano Retrospective Exhibition, 29 July to 14 August 2004.

Notes

Like Norman Rockwell, Vettriano is interested in the narrative of human interactions. In the present lot, the title poses more questions than answers within a seemingly harmonious composition. We do not know if the two people are a couple or if fate has intervened in some unknown way. The umbrella, a device previously used by the artist to shelter a couple, can now be read as a possible indicator of hostility and estrangement.

Without the title, the subject might lack the same psychological interrogation which is tacitly implied. Scrutiny and our own stories will no doubt embellish this narrative. The scene evokes the 1950s, reminiscent of Hollywood's Golden Cinematic era.

Jack Vettriano, born in Fife, Scotland, in 1951, is known for his evocative, film noir-inspired paintings. He left school at 15 to work as an apprentice engineer in the mines. A self-taught artist, he began painting as a hobby in the 1970s after receiving a set of watercolours for his twenty-first birthday. In 1988, Vettriano submitted two paintings to the Royal Scottish Academy’s Annual Exhibition and both sold on the opening day. His most famous painting, The Singing Butler (1992), sold at auction in 2004 for just under £750 000 and subsequently became one of the best selling images in the UK. Vettriano has received several accolades, including an OBE in 2003 for his contributions to the visual arts, and he has exhibited world-wide, in cities such as Edinburgh, London, Johannesburg, and New York.