In this Talking Pictures programme from 1992, artist Jack Vettriano talks with Vivien Hamilton.
In the first part, Vettriano discusses how his paintings evoke the nostalgia and romance of the 1940s and 1950s, but are based on his own life and observations.
“I love to people-watch,” he says. “I often stand at my window for ages, watching people pass by. When I’m out, I love just to look at people. I’m a storyteller who can paint.”
In the second part, Vettriano describes his development as a self-taught painter who didn’t go to art school. “I did two small panels and submitted them to the Royal Scottish Academy summer exhibition and was quite amazed when they were accepted. I almost fainted with pleasure when they were sold. This, I think, gave me immense satisfaction as well as great heart that my work had somehow been stamped with approval. The floodgates just opened then, the ideas just started to come one after the other, and the more I painted, the more the ideas came, and the more distinctive the style became.”
In the third part, he describes two of his paintings, A Test of True Love (based on an episode in the life of Vincent Van Gogh), and The Evening Racing.
“What I’m trying to do is show that racetracks aren’t always about Glorious Goodwood and Ladies’ Day at Ascot,” Vettriano says when asked why, unusually for him, no women are portrayed in this scene. “Some of the northern courses are, I’m sure, very male dominated.”
www.jackvettriano.com/
