Don't miss the Vladimir Tretchikoff exhibition at the
Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town. It's on until 25 September, every day from 10 am to 5 pm. R20 gets you in, which is a ridiculous price to pay for this slice of South African, and Capetonian, history.
One of the commentators in the documentary on Tretchikoff's life and work, found in the middle of the main exhibition room, says something along the lines of: Tretchikoff was the artist Andy Warhol set out to be. Controversial for a number of reasons, it seems that mostly the elite art establishment hated that Tretchikoff actually made money while alive, mostly because he made his work available to anyone via affordable prints. Apparently he has sold more prints than any other artist.
There used to be a bar in Notting Hill in London in the early 2000s called Trailer Happiness that had a couple of his prints up, and I don't think anyone entirely believed me that Tretchikoff was South African. (Oh look, the bar is still there, as are the pictures! Yay.) Apparently he was wildly successful abroad and had a lengthy tour of America and Canada in the 1950s, and took over the ground floor of Harrods in the early 1960s where 205,000 people saw his work. Included in the Cape Town exhibition is a letter from a Canadian buyer. She agreed to pay $6,000 for the painting, on the provisor that it was delivered to her house within two weeks of the tour ending, she was so desperate to get her hands on it!
The exhibition also gives a fascinating glimpse of Cape Town in the 1950s and 1960s: from paintings of the Cape flower sellers, spice sellers and fishermen, to the receipt from Garlicks department store in Adderley Street for an exhibition there. Tretchi paid £30 per day for the priviledge and Garlicks ran full page ads in the Argus and other newspapers to promote the show.
Go see the exhibition, now!
