Vladimir Tretchikoff, the Russia-born South African painter, was often derided by critics as crass, sentimental and perpetuating cultural stereotypes, but he was once rumoured to have made as much money as Pablo Picasso. Had he been alive today, he would have been even richer.
His 1955 portrait of a Cape Town grocer’s daughter, Lady from the Orient, recently fetched R31.1m on auction in Joburg. The subject, dressed in a gown of green and gold silk, is one of his most recognisable — as are many of his paintings, prints of which sold widely in outlets such as OK Bazaars. When he exhibited in Harrods in London in 1961 — on the ground floor because the shop’s art gallery was too small — it attracted more than 200,000 visitors.
The recent sale has created new interest in the artist, who died in Cape Town in 2006 at the age of 92. He was one of the first artists to mass-produce and sell lithographs of his work, having realised the potential of a middle-class market in South Africa, the UK, the US and beyond. And not only prints; his paintings were reproduced on items from tablecloths to handbags.
A popular and flamboyant figure in Cape Town society, Tretchikoff reached the city as a 33-year-old in 1946 to be reunited with his wife, also a Russian émigrée, and their daughter — all three displaced by revolution and war.
It’s not often we handle a painting with so much wall-power; ‘Lady from the Orient’ certainly had that
— Alastair Meredith
Between fleeing the Russian Revolution as a child with his family, taking refuge in China and then Singapore, and being captured by the Japanese in World War 2, Tretchikoff learnt to think on his feet — and market himself. After three months of solitary confinement, he became a prisoner-artist of the Japanese until their surrender in 1945.
By the time he reached South Africa, he had developed his art as a scene painter for a Russian opera house in China, drawn cartoons, submitted artwork to the Straits Times in Singapore and gained admiration from the IBM boss in the Far East, who promoted his paintings. Once settled in Cape Town, he began to sell his work on a large scale, soon becoming rich enough to move to upmarket Bishopscourt.
Galleries were often loath to show his work, which was not viewed in the strict academic tradition, and his subjects were unusual, says Alastair Meredith, head of Strauss & Co’s Joburg art department, which auctioned Lady from the Orient.
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“It’s not often we handle a painting with so much wall-power; Lady from the Orient certainly had that,” he says. “It was wonderful watching people come face to face with the real thing.”
Last September, Tretchikoff’s 1950s portrait Balinese Girl sold for R5.7m, and his Still Life with Magnolias in a Vase fetched R4.1m in 2023. These sales signal growing demand for his work, especially pieces from his peak period in the 1940s and 1950s.
“He wasn’t painting for museums or academics. It limited him in terms of not being accepted into the mainstream on the art side, but of course he’s had the last laugh,” says Meredith.
In 2011, the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town hosted the first retrospective of his paintings.
“There’s definitely been more interest in his work. I think that his paintings are so recognisable that the originals can [command] enormous prices. And the moment an artist’s work starts selling at very high prices, people become much more interested,” says Meredith.
He says the internet has played a big part in the spread of Tretchikoff’s work — “nostalgia and retro imagery have probably fed into that Tretchi boom”.
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