Tretchikoff
1913
- 2006
(93)
Biography
ladimir Tretchikoff was a Russian-born painter, born in Petropavlovsk in the Russian Empire, in what is now Kazakhstan. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, his family settled in Harbin, China. A self-taught artist, he worked in Shanghai and Singapore as an illustrator and stage designer. During the Second World War, he spent time in Java, where he continued to paint. In 1946, he settled in South Africa, where he spent most of the rest of his life. He became internationally famous for his vivid colours and exotic portraits. Chinese Girl, known as The Green Lady, became one of the most widely reproduced artworks of the twentieth century. Critics often dismissed his work as kitsch, while the public embraced him as the “people’s painter”. He died in Cape Town on 26 August 2006.