Jack Vettriano exhibition in Kirkcaldy pushed back to 2021

An eagerly awaited exhibition on Jack Vettriano’s early paintings is the latest event to be pushed back until next year.

Hopes are high it will bring huge numbers to Kirkcaldy Galleries, but fans will have to wait until June 2021 to see his work.

Jack Vettriano: The Early Years exhibition was due to run from September until November, but it has been rescheduled for June 18-October 24 next year.

The exhibition had attracted widespread attention, locally and across the UK as well as internationally, but with increased uncertainty over the timing and phasing of the easing of lockdown restrictions, it has been decided to postpone now as a precaution rather than disappoint thousands of Vettriano followers if the show had to be cancelled at a later date..

Heather Stuart, chief executive of Fife Cultural Trust, said: “We are obviously disappointed – both for the public and staff who had been looking forward so much to this major exhibition – but it is only right that we err on the side of caution.”

The delay until 2021 has, however, given the galleries the opportunity to extend its run from 10 to 18 weeks, and that has led to a reduction in the number of visitors per time slot and extend the time each person can spend at the exhibition.

https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/arts-and-culture/theatre-and-stage/long-road-back-live-theatre-and-music-2852129

https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/retro/nostalgia-when-british-home-stores-was-first-kirkcaldy-and-scotland-2854741

All current ticket holders will be contacted to arrange new dates before tickets go on general sale again on Tuesday, June 15.

Kirkcaldy Galleries was where Vettriano was inspired to become an artist.

His early works,. all done done under his name Jack Hoggan, will include nearly a dozen paintings produced in his formative years before he decided to become a full-time artist, and are signed with his birth name.

It will showcase paintings created from in his 20s until he moved to London in 2000, and give his fans a fresh insight into his early years, with many of his works on loan from private collectors.

One of the paintings which will be on show for the first time in many years is The Critical Hour of 3am – a work Vettriano describes as capturing the moment that he grappled with the decision to give up his previous life and work to devote himself full time to painting.

And, as a sign of how far he has come despite his lack of formal training, a copy of an early rejection letter from Edinburgh College of Art will also be included.

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