"the most successful artist of the 20th century and the most hated..."

It's an odd thing that when the art critics decide to rubbish an artist, they really do go for the throat, just like a pack of dogs hunting a fox. Egged on by their own superiority complex and the metaphorical whistles of their masters, the art institutions. In this particular case the Fox fooled them completely by his mastery of knowing the complex map of humanity and he was sure what directions he should take. Whilst the dogs followed the well trodden path marked by the artistic sign posts to the path of a self proclaimed superior cultural society.

The Artist in question is Vladimir Tretchikoff and you will be forgiven for not knowing his name, but perhaps you will know of one of his painting the Green Lady, also known as the Chinese Girl. This hyper realist portrait was the highest selling reproduction in the world, bar none and the most hated by the art elite's. If not now, then most certainly from 1953 to the early 1980's.

Historically we can imagine a vision of a group of Guardian Art journalists huddled in a dark corner of a public house in Islington, groaning over the fact that the original of Chinese girl (see above) had sold to a South African art collector for closing in on a million UK pounds. The artist once said the only thing different between him and Vincent van Gogh was that Vincent was poor and he was rich. A statement that did nothing to endear him the Art Museums or public Art Galleries in the UK, who nNever bought any of his art work.

His story as an Artist is perhaps unique, his story as a human being is certainly different enough from the rest of us, to wonder how he survived at all. Born in a community (sect) of spiritual christians known as Molokans, whose main philosophy is best summed up by an old proverb they abided by, "Work hard as if you were to live forever, do good as if you were to die tomorrow." Conservative in outlook the religious group was stoic. They believed all humans were equal as brothers and sisters through Christ. Freedom of will was of prime importance to the Molokans. The Russian authorities opposed their preaching that 'war was a deadly sin.' The whole community fled from the fighting that ensued from World War 1 and the resulting the Russian revolution.

They landed in Manchurian (China). Tretchikoff took his natural gift for art and used it to earn a living drawing cartoons for newspapers and later gained a position as an illustrator for an advertising agency. But it was because of his work for British propaganda department that got him