Keith Vaughan

Prunella Clough
Dr Gordon Hargreaves and Professor John Ball
Gerard Hastings

London, Gallery 27, Vaughan Drawing Retrospective, September 2010, cat. no.68;
London, Menier Gallery, Clough & Vaughan: Visions and Recollections, April - May 2014, un-numbered exhibition.

Not examined out of the frame. The sheet appears to be affixed about the edges in several places to a backing card, but does not appear to be laid down. The left edge of the sheet is uneven, thought to be in keeping with the Artist's materials. There is a light crease in the lower right corner, and Artist's pinholes apparent in the top right corner. There is a small tear towards the left side of the upper edge, and a further tiny tear just beneath this, to the head of the figure on the left. There are some light scuffs and handling marks in one or two places, and there are one or two extremely tiny spots of foxing visible upon extremely close inspection near the left vertical edge. There are some traces of light surface dirt and studio detritus. Subject to the above, the work appears to be in very good overall condition. The work is float mounted within a window mount, and presented in a simple wooden frame, held under glass. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
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Their friend the painter, Prunella Clough, presented this drawing to Professor Ball and his partner Dr. Gordon Hargreaves. She related to them that on March 7, 1976, one year before Vaughan died, she invited him to Sunday lunch with the art critics John Russell (1919-2008) and David Sylvester (1924-2001) together with the painter Francis Bacon (1909-1992). Vaughan’s mother had died the day before and, despite this, it had been a highly sociable occasion. In a surprisingly ebullient moment, Vaughan had made this drawing in front of them all at the dining room table. Inscribed on the reverse are the words: “John Russell, Francis Bacon and David Sylvester (with sagging droopy buttocks and wrinkled socks), Keith at Prunella’s March 7, 1976.” The figure of Bacon, in the centre, appears stocky and thick-set. He and Vaughan knew each other quite well and, at one time or another, are known to have mentioned their admiration for each other’s work. Both artists represented the male nude in their paintings and also resolutely refused to let go of the object to enter into complete abstraction.

We are grateful to Gerard Hastings for compiling these notes. His latest book, Awkward Artefacts: The ‘Erotic Fantasies’ of Keith Vaughan: 1940-1960, is published by Pagham Press in April.