Keith Vaughan

Waddington Galleries, where acquired by the present owner in 1973

Stable sheet. The sheet appears laid down, with the bottom left hand corner lifting ever so slightly. There is a small tear and area of resultant loss to the extreme top left hand corner. There is minor surface dirt, with a small, isolated area of craquelure, lifting and resultant loss in an area of the black pigment immediately above the top left figure, measuring approximately 0.5 by 1cm. There are one or two further isolated areas of craquelure with one or two resultant flecks of paint loss, including to the black and brown pigments in the very centre of the composition; a spot to the black pigment in the upper right hand quadrant and a fleck above the signature. Housed behind glass in a thin wooden frame and float-mounted against a white lien and card mount. Please contact the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. All dimensions in catalogue descriptions are approximate. Condition reports may not specify mechanical replacements or imperfections to the movement, case, dial, pendulum, separate base(s) or dome. Watches in water-resistant cases have been opened to examine movements but no warranties are made that the watches are currently water-resistant. Please note that we do not guarantee the authenticity of any individual component parts, such as wheels, hands, crowns, crystals, screws, bracelets and leather bands, since subsequent repairs and restoration work may have resulted in the replacement of original parts. 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. In particular, please note it is the purchaser's responsibility to comply with any applicable import and export matters, particularly in relation to lots incorporating materials from endangered species.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."

**Please be advised that bands made of materials derived from endangered or otherwise protected species (i.e. alligator and crocodile) are not sold with the watches and are for display purposes only. We reserve the right to remove these bands prior to shipping.

Important Notice regarding importation into the United States of Rolex watches
Sotheby's cannot arrange for the delivery of Rolex watches to the United States because U.S. laws restricts the import of Rolex watches. The buyer or a designated agent may collect the property in the country of sale."

'Vaughan continued to produce exceptional gouaches over the course of the 1970s despite physical decline, intermittent working habits and being beset by anxieties concerning his technical abilities.  He would paint for two or three hours and consider the work to be good, and then in the evening fall into despair at what he had done. “I must just hang on”, he would tell himself, “it will pass” (Keith Vaughan, Journal: Tuesday December 14, 1971). .. His 1973/74 series are examples of bravura painting and boast a dazzling alla prima approach ... He was wielding paint with new authority borne out of years of experience, while he wrestled with the relative merits of figuration and abstraction, a problem that had unsettled him for twenty years. He produced a total of forty-two outstanding gouaches over the course of the year and thirty-seven were exhibited at the Waddington Gallery in April/May 1974. Vaughan demonstrated a new economy of means ... Figures are scaled down to simple silhouettes and constructed with the minimal use of inky outline.  Without resorting to the deceptions of linear or aerial perspective, Vaughan achieves the impact of pictorial depth while managing to retain the integrity of the picture plane.  By tilting, flattening and layering coloured planes he conveys a sense of air and space and distance.  Opaque lozenges of colour and massed up areas of texture effortlessly evoke far-off woodlands and prospects.' 
 
(Excerpt from Keith Vaughan, Phillip Vann and Gerard Hastings, Lund Humphries, 2012)

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 cataloguing the present lot.