Jack Vettriano and the Bluebird
What happens when art and automotive history meet? A series of beautiful paints.
Art and automotive history rarely met, but when this happens something amazing comes out. This is the case of Jack Vettriano’s paints and of the legendary Land speed record machine called the Bluebird, but let's start from the beginning.
There's a place in London called the Bluebird Gastrodome, this huge restaurant and food shop in King's street, Chelsea, once was an Art Deco garage built for the Bluebird Motor Company.
Photo credits - www.kingsroadchelsea.london
You may recall the name Bluebird as the wonderful speed record-breaking machine driven by Sir Malcolm Campbell, and you would not be wrong.
The Bluebird Garage was designed in 1923 by architect Robert Sharp, it was the biggest in Europe and was connected with Sir Malcolm Campbell, a driver and motoring journalists with a big passion for racing and speed.
Sir Malcolm Campbell Photo credits - Richard LeSesne / State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory
Campbell was born in Kent in 1885. In his youth he began a brilliant motorcycles racing career winning the London to Land's End race three times. In 1910 he started to race cars at Brookland, the world's first circuit made for racing purposes.
In that period, inspired by the play “The Blue Bird” he painted his car in blue and christened it “Bluebird”. The name Bluebird will be carried by all the vehicles Sir Malcolm, and later his son Donald will drive across the years.
Between 1924 and 1935 Campbell broke the astonishing number of nine land speed records, three of them at Pendine Sands, Wales, and five at Daytona beach in Florida.
Sir Campbell achieved his first two land speed records driving a Bluebird 350HP Vq12 Sunbeam. In 1927 with the purpose to break his previous speed record of 150 mph on the Flying mile, and pass the barrier of 200 mph. Sir Malcolm and his team projected a new car, the Napier-Campbell Bluebird.
Malcolm Campbell's Blue Bird Sunbeam 350HP at the National Motor Museum of Beaulieu, England. Photo credits - Paul Hermann
A couple of records and of cars later, in 1935 Campbell smashed his previous record of 251 mph in the suggestive scenario of the Bonneville Salt Flats. He reached the astonishing speed of 301.337 mph driving a 2300 bhp, V12 Rolls-Royce R engine Campbell-Napier-Railton Blue Bird.
In 1997 for the Bluebird Gastrodome opening, Sir Terence Conran, commissioned to Scottish painter Jack Vettriano, a series of paints to celebrate Campbell's incredible achievements.
Vettriano created a series of seven paintings, which adorned the walls of the Bluebird Gastrodome for ten years. In 2007, Sotheby's put the artworks into an auction. The most valuable paint, “Bluebird at Bonneville” was sold for the incredible amount of 468’000.00 pounds.
Bluebird at Bonneville Photo credits - www.jackvettriano.com
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of Campbell's last record, Vettriano’s publishing company released a limited edition box with signed copies of all the seven paints.
The peculiar Vettriano's style shows us a beautiful portrait of Campbell's career, giving life to a scenario of the past, perfectly capturing the brightness of the Salt flats. Mixing pale colours to beautiful lights effects, he painted for us a photograph of events we can only admire in old black and white photos and records, bringing them to new life.
Pendine Beach Photo credits - www.jackvettriano.com
I personally love when car culture meets arts, whatever is about music or paints and sculptures, taking cars to a whole new level of beauty, like in this case.
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Comments (4)
Great piece! I too love when the art world and automotive world collide. Cars are a form of art in and of themselves, and when someone, who is gifted enough to paint, captures the striking contrast of auto and nature it is a beautiful thing. Also great bit of history in your story!
Thank you Ed! I'm happy you like it, your support is very precious to me, by the fact I'm always unsure about my writing :)
Your writing is wonderful. You can feel the passion in your words. Keep it up, I enjoy reading your works