Looking for Jack Vettriano early works, you may find some painting's by Jack Hoggan. But who is Jack Hoggan? Jack Hoggan was Jack Vettriano's birth name. Read on to find out more about life before becoming Jack Vettriano, his paintings and how his style has changed.
Jack Hoggan - the early years
Jack Hoggan was born in 1951. A miner's son, he grew up in the village of Methilhill and the towns of Leven and Kirkcaldy on the east coast of Scotland. The young Jack Hoggan liked to draw, mainly sketches of goal mouth incidents and birds nests. Leaving school aged 15, he began training as a mining engineer. There was no art school training or scholarships for the budding artist, as he moved around jobs.
Learning his craft
Gifted his first set of watercolours by a girlfriend for his 22nd birthday he began to paint. Like many would be artists, who have not had the privilege of art school, he learned his craft by copying from art manuals, library books, and other paintings. His pastiches of impressionist paintings can still be found today (a pastiche is a an artistic work in a style that imitates that of another work, artist or period).
Jack took inspiration from the Fife coastline and the fishing villages.
Jack Hoggan (Vettriano) - the first exhibition
Moving from job to job in various roles, a young Jack Hoggan was working in Bahrain when he had his first exhibition. 21 of his paintings were exhibited, none of which sold. Undeterred by the lack of interest in his work, he continued to paint.
Finding himself back in Scotland and married, Jack realised that he was really good at copying other works, but had to find a style of his own.
Harking back to his youth in the dancehalls of Kirkcaldy, Jack's inspiration came from art deco features, a romantic and melancholic view of the past and, of course, women.
The Royal Scottish Academy
Paintings of Model in a White Slip, a peaceful image of his then wife, sitting on a chair, and Saturday Night, a couple beside an Art Deco pillar, were entered into the Royal Scottish Academy's (RSA) 1988 Summer Exhibition. Both the paintings sold quickly, a vast difference to his Bahrain exhibition and the beginning of a new era for Jack Hoggan.
Selling his work at the RSA's Summer Exhibition resulted in interest in his work from galleries and publishers, and a name change...
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Becoming Jack Vettriano
Vettriano says changing his name to Vettriano was a natural and obvious step. Marking the change from an amateur painter to a full time artist, he felt he had to distance himself from the pastiches and early works he created as he learned his trade.
Jack's mother was of Italian descent. Jack chose to adopt the surname of his maternal grandfather.
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How much does a Jack Hoggan painting cost?
If you are a fan of Jack Vettriano's style while he was painting under his original name of Jack Hoggan, you may be wondering how much a Jack Hoggan would cost.
In 2014, a painting titled Little Flower Girl sold at auction in Dunfermline. The oil painting fetched £6000.
Originals, painted under the name Hoggan, might not cost as much as a Vettriano but they are certainly sought after and collectable.