Lovers and Other Strangers: Paintings by Jack Vettriano

I would have liked to give this beautiful book 5 stars as the quality of the art was exactly as I would have expected of Jack Vettriano, it looses a star because of the layout of the gallery section of the book where a number of the paintings are layed out across the centre crease. I would rather have a smaller reproduction on one side of paper than a larger reproduction part of whose detail is lost in the book's crease.

But don't let my critism put you off this book, there are a lot of painting reproduced on a single side and therefore have not spoilt by the book's formatting.

Powerful and Evoctive (24/25 people found this helpful)

If anyone out there once had the oppertunity to purchase one of this man's paintings, but passed on it because you couldn't afford it and eat at the same time, this book is a real treat. Jack Vettrano's paintings are possibly some of the best art work to come out of the 20th Century, and, as the introductions states, now outsell any other poster images available. Quite right too. Each painting is a captured moment in time. The back story is yours to define and the moments after are too. What he manages to capture is that amazing turning point in a story, where, for a moment, you can't imagine what's going to happen.

As you can now find his pictures on everything from calenders and biscuit tins to mouse mats and coasters, this book is a wonderful insight into the man and his painings, reprducing far more than you will ever find in the art cards section in Smiths. From his beautiful beach settings, to the more erotic, sometimes disturbing nightlife scenes, you are taken to a place that could have existed if George Orwell and Edward Hopper ever went into business together. (Surreal I know, but...)

A note to the publishers however: Please don't print across two pages, we want to see the whole picture without breaking the book's spine!

Other than that, this is a wonderful book. If only I had the money to buy that painting all that time ago...

Great artist! Great book! Why won't this man show in the USA (7/13 people found this helpful)

This is a great book and I am in love with this artwork! I live in Washington, DC and there's a a great art gallery here called FRASER Gallery, owned by a British expat - they show a lot of great contemporary realism - which is what Vettriano paints - the book really allows him to flex his artistic muscles too----- anyway, I asked Ms. Fraser about showing Vettriano in DC and she said: "I'd LOVE TO!" - but then she added that she has been truing to contact him or his agents or his London gallery without results! JACK COME TO DC!!!!!!!

First Class read, first class reproduction. (18/18 people found this helpful)

A quality hardback with first-rate Vettriano background and excellent print reproductions. As an intro to his classy 30's-style, cigarette card reproductions this couldn't be bettered. The prints show the full humour and sensuality of his art, and the whole book makes a classy gift for the art lover.....and even those who aren't!

You bought the birthday card, now get the book! (9/10 people found this helpful)

For the (many thousands) of people who will recognise Vettriano's work from the very successful cards and prints of his paintings, this collection offers a mixture of the familiar and the surprising. His well-known and evocative images of a too-perfect bygone era are here, alongside work which is a little more 'raw' in both style and content. As the subject matter shifts, the underlying mystery and restrained sexuality which have proved so captivating and popular give way to an earthier style. As his subjects become less refined, so the brush strokes become broader and the light less luminous. In either style, the element of voyeursim is present; what differs is the amount of license that the painter is prepared to grant us.

If some of the images stray very close to the edge of cliche, they just about get away with it because that same sense of mystery, and of a story going on within each picture, is still present. All of this work is tremendously atmospheric, and the best of these pictures positively leap off the page (hence their success in card racks and poster shops).

Altogether a rewarding and successful collection, preceded by an interesting and readable account of an unusual and interesting guy and his work.

Lovers and Other Strangers: Paintings by Jack Vettriano

Anthony Quinn

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