SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
Vladimir Tretchikoff’s career unfolds across several cities and different image-making professions. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, his family takes refuge in Harbin, where he works as a scenery painter at the Russian opera and continues his schooling until the age of sixteen. In Shanghai, he becomes art director and illustrator for Mercury Press, an American advertising and publishing company. He then settles in Singapore with his wife Natalie Telpougoff, works at an advertising agency, teaches art and contributes to the Straits Times. In 1937, Thomas Watson, head of IBM, commissions him to create The Last Divers to represent Malaysia in an international exhibition. During the Second World War, Tretchikoff works as a propaganda artist for the British Ministry of Information.
In Batavia, he meets Leonora Schmidt-Salomonson, known as Lenka, who becomes his partner and one of his known models. Portrait of Lenka with Orchid, dated 1944, is an oil on canvas measuring 98.5 × 75.5 cm; its authenticity is stated to have been confirmed by Boris Gorelik on the basis of high-resolution photographs. In 1946, Tretchikoff is reunited in South Africa with Natalie and their daughter Mimi, who had been evacuated earlier. He lives in Cape Town from that year; a stroke leaves him unable to paint in 2002, and he dies in the city in 2006. Chinese Girl, a 1952 painting for which Monika Pon-su-san was the model, is widely circulated as prints.
In 1962, an exhibition of his works at Harrods in London attracts more than 205,000 visitors. The first retrospective devoted to the artist is held in 2011 at the South African National Gallery in Cape Town.
This profile brings together identity references for Vladimir Tretchikoff and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
3 references are documented at Schuler. Each record links to its source; the amounts are not a general valuation of the artist’s work.
Oil on canvas
Portrait von Lenka mit Orchidee
Öl auf Leinwand
Catalogue period : 2016-12-16
Published result : 65000 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 60000–80000
View the lot at the auction house ↗These references are shown separately because of their attribution or lot composition. Each record states the reason.
Oil on canvas
Attribué à Tretchikoff, Vladimir — zugeschrieben Portrait eines holländischen Infanteristen, wohl nach einer Miniaturmalerei des 19
Öl auf Leinwand
zugeschrieben
Catalogue period : 2017-06-19
Attributed
Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed
Estimate : CHF 1000–1500
View the lot at the auction house ↗
Oil on canvas
Attribué à Tretchikoff, Vladimir — zugeschrieben Portrait eines holländischen Infanteristen, wohl nach einer Miniaturmalerei des 19
Öl auf Leinwand
zugeschrieben
Catalogue period : 2017-03-24
Attributed
Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed
Estimate : CHF 2000–3000
View the lot at the auction house ↗SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
Documentation updated : 2026-10-19
