Tretchikoff Exhibition at Iziko Gallery

The City of Cape Town is a major sponsor of an exhibition of the works of famed artist and citizen of Cape Town, Vladimir Tretchikoff

The ‘The People’s Painter’ exhibition contains a wealth of unpublished material as well as reproductions of many of the artist’s most popular paintings. Tretchnikoff’s book of the same name will serve as an accompanying text to the exhibition.

From the 1940s to the 1970s, Tretchikoff received unprecedented coverage in the media and his exhibitions still hold international records for attendance. Despite this, he received hostile criticism from many in the established art community, who saw his popular art as ‘pedestrian’ and even ‘kitsch’.

Since that time, many younger generations of artists and critics have championed Tretchikoff as a 'people's painter' who was ahead of his time in many aspects of his art and its marketing. This exhibition will re-examine Tretchikoff’s work and bring his originals to new audiences.

It is significant that the show is taking place in the Iziko South African National Gallery - arguably the most important art institution in the country and a place that has never, up till this year, acquired a single work of the artist.

“We want to finally acknowledge Tretchikoff as a prominent artist in the country’s history and to acknowledge the millions who loved his work,” said the Director of Art Collections at the Iziko Museum, Riason Naidoo.

Vladimir Tretchikoff  1913 - 2006

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