Vladimir Tretchikoff (born 13 December 1913 in Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan; died 26 August 2006 in Cape Town, South Africa) was one of the most commercially successful artists of all time.

Tretchikoff was a self-taught artist who painted super realistic figures, portraits, still life and animals. He worked in oil, watercolour, ink, charcoal and pencil but is best known for the reproductions of his work that has been sold worldwide over the years. The first series of very high quality reproductions were done by the Repro House Frost & Reed in London and was sold many a time in Lingerie Departments of Departmental Stores. The reproductions were so popular that it was said once that, Tretchikoff was second only to Picasso in his popularity.

His work was so commercially successful, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s, that it provoked extreme reactions. Many continue to see Tretchikoff's work as the epitome of kitsch. His famous subject "Chinese Girl", featuring an eastern model viewed through a blue filter is the best selling print of all time. It was featured everywhere from the original set of Alfie to an episode of Doctor Who.

Life and career

Tretchikoff fled with his family to Manchuria after the 1917 Russian revolution. They also lived in Shanghai and later in Singapore.

His wife Natalie and daughter Mimi were evacuated from Singapore to Cape Town, South Africa in 1941 ahead of the advancing Japanese army. Not knowing the whereabouts of his family, he spent World War II in occupied Jakarta, where he met Leonora Schmidt-Salomonson (Lenka) who became his lover and one of his most famous models.

In 1946, he was reunited with his family in South Africa, where he resided for the rest of his life.

Although Tretchikoff was seen as one of South Africa's most prominent living artists, he never gained the recognition that he deserved as a master of realism. He was never taken seriously by art critics in South Africa, because of the reproductions done of his work as he was seen as too much of a commercial artist and it is only lately that his work has become more and more sought after and have escalated in price at auction houses like Sotheby's South Africa.

The South African National Gallery never bothered to acquire an original Tretchikoff because they did not "really regard Tretchikoff as a South African artist".

He suffered a stroke in 2002 which left him unable to paint. He passed away on 26 August 2006 in Cape Town, South Africa.

Wikipedia.org