The market for Jack Vettriano is strangely schizophrenic at the moment . On the one hand his new exhibition in Kirkcaldy is an outstanding success. At the same time an auction of ten of his paintings was not very successful. Seven of the 10 paintings were not sold . Sotheby’s spring auction of Scottish art showed that big-money buyers are in the market . Seven classic watercolours of birds by Scots ornithologist Archibald Thorburn sold for £339,600 at a different auction last week, smashing pre-sale estimates. Auctioneers are saying there has been a reassessment of the market for Vettriano paintings. Put it another way , prices are falling. A few years ago buyers were willing to pay almost any price for his paintings . Now the heat in the market has cooled , leaving some buyers struggling to make a profit on their investment . The highest seller was Game On
Game On by Jack Vettriano
a 15in by 12in painting of a man and woman in suspenders locked in an erotic embrace. The last item in the Sotheby’s sale, it carried an estimated price of £40,000-£60,000, and sold for £49,250.
Study For Heaven Or Hell ? The Sweetest Choice had an auctioneer’s estimate of between £20,000 and £30,000, it did not find a buyer.
The Longing, estimated at £20,000-£30,000, sold for £18,750. But Model Reclining, which sold for £37,250, was on Friday still listed at £87,500 on the website of the Portland Gallery, where director Tom Hewlett was until recently Vettriano’s longtime dealer. Artist And Model, valued at £50,000-£70,000, did not sell. Nor did The Out Of Towners, a romantic beach scene of a woman in a yellow dress and two men in period clothes and hats, estimated at £40,000-£60,000.
