Once prints like Tretchikoff's Chinese Girl (or The Green Lady) were cheap, mass market art. Now, the popularity of vintage, Mid- Century Modern and kitsch mean that original copies from the 1950s and 60s in good condition are priced into three figures. Vladimir Tretchikoff painted it in 1952 and then a new version a year later. The original sold for just under £1 million at auction in 2013. The copy I photographed above was in Pear Mill in Stockport and if I'd had a spare £100 I might have bought it.
In 1989 Mick Jones paid tribute to the painting, a copy of which hung on his Nan's wall in her flat- the flat with the balcony from which thirteen years earlier Joe Strummer wrote London's Burning. The Green Lady is on Megatop Phoenix, the last album by the original line up of Big Audio Dynamite.
'Dry your eyes Salome/ Mona Lisa too/ Lady in the picture frame/ My heart belongs to you'.
Mick also sings the line, 'Window to the Orient... Nobody knows your name', but it seems we do now know who the Green Lady was- the model was Monika Sing- Lee, also known as Pon-Su-San, introduced to Tretchikoff by a Russian dancer Masha Arsenyeva. Pon-Su-San died in 2017 and presumably made nothing financially from being the face on a hundred thousand living room walls.
This photo of The Clash in Mick's Nan's flat was taken by Pennie Smith and printed in the Before And After book. It's one of my favourite photos of the band- the contrast between their 1979 rock 'n' roll finery and glowering looks and Mick's Nan's wallpaper and belongings is perfect.
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