Vladimir Tretchikoff: 26/12/1913 - 26/08/2006
A painter of Russian origin who, after many wanderings, eventually ended up in South Africa and died there.
Self-taught, spewed out by art criticism and nicknamed the king of kitsch.
And yet: the general public was fond of his work.
As it turned out, he had come up with the idea he could sell more by making large and small reproductions of his work, framed or not: affordable for everyone and because of the large numbers he just had to cash in.
Doing so, he became the second richest artist, after Picasso during his lifetime. With the latter he shared the passion for women and the sense of adventure.
One of these paintings was the original for the most sold reproduction in the 20th century, and so it wound up, neatly framed, in the living room of David Bowie’s parental home.
It can be seen in his video “The stars (are out tonight)” from 2013, including Tilda Swinton as one of the characters.
Big Audio Dynamite also made a song about it in 1972 and even earlier it was present in the film “Alfie” from 1966, with Michael Caine in the lead.
Lurking around the corner is Françoise Hardy, she was a model for him in Cape Town.
In the album, in addition to some of his paintings and photographs of the artist and some models, also stills from the aforementioned video clip and film + the links to the audio and video material, 2 shoulder bags, 3 pillows, a chest of drawers, a beauty parlour and a hotel in Cape Town.