How Do You Take Your Coffee? Black, Sugar or With A Little Vladimir Tretchikoff Thrown In?

On our way to dinner in London, we passed thru what must have been boy's town in Soho. A colorful area with studs lingering on display outside the bars and shopping to die for. Spotted these fantastic coffee mugs in the window of a shop but alas, they were closed! The retro images were familiar in a vague way and after much hunting I found the artist's name - Vladimir Tretchikoff. He has a bunch of wonderful exotic works, he was a very successful painter in the 1950's and 60's earning the nickname the "King of Kitsch".
From Wikipedia-
"His fame spread to the United States, where the Rosicrucians of San Jose invited him to launch an American tour. Around 19,000 people saw his show in Los Angeles and 51,000 in San Francisco. In Seattle, a rival show which included Picasso and Rothko sold fewer tickets, to Tretchikoff’s satisfaction. A million Americans finally saw his paintings, which then went on to Canada with equal success. This was followed by a large exhibition in 1961 at Harrods in London where he decided that the Harrod's art gallery was too small. He requested and was granted the privilege of having his exhibition in the ground-floor exhibition space. About 205,000 people attended the exhibition and one of his British admirers, Leslie Rigall, bought ten paintings and designed his new house in Windsor Great Park around them."

You may remember this painting - the famous Chinese Girl, a 1950 painting featuring an Eastern model with blue-green skin, it is one of the best selling prints of all time. The colors are quite different on the mug but I kinda' like it. Is it too early to put the word out for Xmas suggestions?


At a shoe store down the street from the coveted mugs, were a drooling array of cowboy boots. The cowgurl in me went crazy with lust over these as well, however the dollar vs. Euro equation meant a no-go. But Xmas is just around the corner, size 10 please! :)