Keith Vaughan

The Estate of the Artist
Prunella Clough
Private Collection

Stable card. There are knocks and nicks to the extreme edges and corners, most apparent in all four corners and along the bottom edge. There is minor dirt and studio detritus to isolated areas of the work. There are very tiny isolated flecks of loss to a few of the raised elements of impasto. There are a few minor isolated surface scratches, including one which runs diagonally down from the top right corner. There is a line of craquelure, which appears to be lifting in places that runs from the top edge in the upper right hand quadrant to the sea to the right of the boat, with a resultant fleck of loss. Further isolated areas of craquelure are apparent including, but not limited to the black pigment in the centre of the composition, and in two further areas by both the right and left hand side. This excepting the work appears in good overall condition. Housed in a thin, dark wooden frame and set behind glass, float-mounted against a cream card. Ultraviolet light reveals some isolated areas of fluorescence in keeping with the nature of the artist's technique. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present lot.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

In 1951 Clement Atlee’s Labour government organized the Festival of Britain, (exactly a century after the Great Exhibition of 1851), to promote a feeling of well-being and recovery in Britain after the Second World War. Run-down factories and derelict warehouses were cleared away over a four and a half acre site on the South Bank to make way for the Dome of Discovery, designed by Ralph Tubbs. This aluminium and concrete structure was the world’s largest dome at that time with a 111 meter diameter and a height of 27 metres. It housed galleries and exhibition areas on various levels all connected by escalators. These showed work celebrating discoveries in science, technology and the arts. 8,500,000 people visited the South Bank during the course of the summer months.

In 1950 Vaughan had been commissioned to make a large-scale painting on the general theme of discovery, which was to be housed in one of the galleries within the dome. He created an enormous mural, some fifty feet long, entitled At the Beginning of Time. This was the largest work he ever painted and it was loosely based on narrative elements of the Theseus legend. Such a colossal painting necessitated a series of preparatory studies in pencil, gouache and oil, and the present work was the final and most resolved of the oil sketches he produced. The final painting was made directly from this small-scale version.  

The panoramic vista is presented in a continuous narrative layout and in idealistic terms. The left side of the composition, complete with symbolic animal skull, represents the passing of the old world; the right side represents the dawn of a new order, with a boat about to set off towards a braver new world. The male nude figures, distributed throughout the scene, in a stage-like manner, echo Vaughan’s interest in the theatre and especially in classical ballet. The heroic central figure holds aloft a beacon of light, a symbol of hope for this new era. Vaughan has employed a limited palette of high-key reds, oranges and greens, as well as a simple, but bold design ensuring the impact, or gestalt of the painting could be easily read from a distance within the cavernous exhibition space.

In October 1951, Winston Churchill’s Conservative government was elected and his very first instruction was to clear the South Bank of that 'three-dimensional socialist propaganda.' The dome was torn down and sold for scrap. Vaughan’s mural was destroyed since it was too large to store or to sell off.

We are grateful to Gerard Hastings, (co-author of Keith Vaughan, a new monograph on the artist, published by Lund Humphries, October 2012) for his kind assistance in preparing the catalogue entry for lots 183 and 184.