Last night while helping my mum – an inveterate hoarder – clear through a pile of stuff stashed in her kitchen, I uncovered an original signed print of the Chinese Girl by Vladimir Tretchikoff (above left), an all time kitsch classic, often called the Green Lady, which was reproduced in the millions in the ‘60s and ‘70s. You may have seen it in your grannies and the snobs of the art world at the time happily dismissed it as the ‘art’ of the working class who hung it in their houses (often next to a row of flying ducks). Tretchikoff didn’t care about the critics as his art made him the second richest artist after Picasso by the time he died in 2006 aged 92. Prints that were originally bought for a few pence are now selling for up to €200 as kitsch makes a come back.
If you like Tretchikoff as much as I do you can pick up another one of his famous prints from one of our favourite Irish vintage sources, Paul at Retrorumage, who coincidentally just blogged that he has a Tretch Balinese Lady for just €129 (above right).
What do you think? Is it an eyesore or a modern classic? Let us know in the comments below.
(PS. My mum was happy for me to take the Chinese Girl off her hands. Just need to find the right place to hang it).
