Keith Vaughan

Acquired by the previous owner, January 1965

Sale, Christie's London, 6 June 2008, lot 46, where acquired by the present owner

London, Whitechapel Gallery, Keith Vaughan Retrospective, March - April 1962, no.276 (as Figure and Landscape)

Sao Paolo, British Council, VII Biennale, September - December 1963, no.2, illustrated

Throughout the 1960s Vaughan consciously expanded both his vision and his technique so as to stay abreast of emerging ideas in British art; he was keen to experiment and began to explore new media. He made a series of innovative charcoal drawings in 1960 inspired by the working methods of some of his young students, in particular Mario Dubsky (1934-85), with whom he developed a close, but stormy, relationship. Dubsky, Vaughan’s most accomplished pupil, drew large charcoal figures much influenced by David Bomberg, and these impressed and intrigued Vaughan, to such an extent he began to produce his own. They remain among his finest and most inspired drawings.

Dubsky recalled demonstrating for his teacher how charcoal was capable of producing a wide vocabulary of marks. He explained to Vaughan how to rub and blend charcoal to achieve subtle tonal gradations and rich, velvety effects and how to use an eraser to create subtle highlights. Vaughan’s first attempts were awkward as he struggled with the new medium:

Friday July 8 1960: Some large charcoal drawings latterly. Of no importance. Impossible to get/keep things in focus.

He persisted over the course of two years and even discovered a particular hand-made linen paper with a high tooth, which helped him achieve pleasing results. Despite successfully expanding his graphic range, Vaughan was also becoming painfully aware of the importance of developing his art in the face of the up-and-coming new generation of artists:

July 31, 1962: Better - I did one large charcoal drawing and several small ones - (in fact I did as much if not more yesterday)…The crux of the problem really is that I am facing at last the reality of my situation. All the romantic illusions which carried me through the past crises are over. I must come to terms with the facts or perish. In my work as in my life. Hence the difficulties in everything.

Eight of Vaughan’s charcoal drawings, including the present work, were exhibited to some acclaim in the Whitechapel Gallery retrospective in 1964.

Gerard Hastings