Vladimir Tretchikoff was born on 13 December 1913 in Petropavlovsk, Russia. In 1932 he moved to Shanghai where he worked as a cartoonist for the Shanghai Times, while also secretly working for the British Ministry of Information.
He married in 1935 and had a in 1938. When the Japanese invaded Singapore, his wife and child were evacuated. While fleeing Singapore, Tretchikoff’s ship was torpedoed and he was forced to sail across the Java Sea in a small boat. He arrived in Java to discover that the Japanese had captured the island. Although he was imprisoned, his captors allowed him to work as an artist.
In 1944 he was introduced to Leonora Maltema (Lenka) – his muse. Lenka took him to a séance and it was there that he was told that his wife and child were alive in South Africa. He then moved to South Africa to be reunited with his family.
He began producing prints of his paintings for display in department stores rather than in art galleries although he continued to exhibit, with 252 exhibitions around the world attended by over two million people. His American exhibitions rivalled those of Picasso and over one million people saw his paintings in that country alone.
In 1961 he exhibited at Harrods but, finding the gallery too small, was allowed to use the ground floor as an exhibition space. 205 000 people attended the exhibition.
He died in Cape Town on 24 August 2006, having lived in South Africa for over 60 years. The original ‘Fruits of Bali’ was sold by Sotheby’s last year for R1.74 million.
“In many ways, Tretchikoff is a major figure in the history of South African and world art and ignoring him will not make him go away. It’s about time that we gave him a critical look and reassessed his rightful place in our art history,” says the exhibition’s curator, Andrew Lamprecht
For more info about Vladimir Tretchikoff's posthumous exhibition in Cape Town click here, where the above information piece was sourced.
Image source: Ken Steacy Publishing
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