- 146
KEITH VAUGHAN | Steelworkers
估價
8,000 - 12,000 GBP
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招標截止
描述
- Vaughan, Keith
- Steelworkers
- crayon, ink and gouache on paper
- 38 by 28cm.; 15 by 11in.
- Executed in 1949.
來源
Pyms Gallery, London
Private Collection, UK
Sale, Phillips London, 6th March 1990, lot 62
Sale, Phillips London, 4th December 2001, lot 124, where acquired by the present owner
Private Collection, UK
Sale, Phillips London, 6th March 1990, lot 62
Sale, Phillips London, 4th December 2001, lot 124, where acquired by the present owner
Condition
Unexamined out of frame. The sheet appears to have been secured to the mount with tabs of adhesive tape at each of the corners. There are two Artist's pinholes in the upper corners. The sheet undulates slightly in places, in keeping with the Artist's materials and working methods. There are a small number of light creases to the upper left corner, upper edge, and one faint crease to the lower left corner. There is a 3cm diagonal scratch towards the centre of the lower edge, with a small associated loss. There are some further, light scuffs and creases elsewhere in the sheet, only visible upon close inspection, where the Artist has worked the sheet. There is a tiny fleck of loss in the thick area of impasto at the elbow of the foreground figure. There is some very light water staining in places, in keeping with the Artist's working methods and materials. Subject to the above the work appears to be in very good overall condition, with strong vivid colours throughout. The work is window mounted and held behind glass in a simple, stained wooden frame. Please telephone 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. 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 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."
拍品資料及來源
We are grateful to Gerard Hastings, whose forthcoming study on the book illustrations and graphic art of Keith Vaughan will be published next year, for his kind assistance with the cataloguing of the present work.
The theme of labour occurs often in Vaughan’s work and especially during the years following the war. The present work was probably painted around 1950. He had developed a healthy respect for hard work, having been a member of the Non Combatant Corps during the war, and this attitude stayed with him for the rest of his life.
Over the course of his career Vaughan represented all types of labourers engaging in every manner of grueling physical activity. These included quarrymen, gardeners, coalmen, farm workers, woodmen, fishermen, tree cutters, ploughmen, harvesters, shearers, metal workers and hod carriers. He was attracted by the look and attitude of these manual workers, their physical prowess and their masculine appearance. Not only did he admire them but, as his journal reveals, he also envied them. As a middle-class intellectual and a successful artist, Vaughan harboured a deep-rooted sense of guilt that his professional life was of the ‘easy’ variety. He grew increasingly self-conscious that his artistic talents brought him significant rewards compared to those who engaged in strenuous labour to earn their daily bread.
Four years after the war and during a period of significant optimism and patriotism in Britain, Vaughan executed a series of gouaches of steel workers, of which the present work is an example. He took his sketchbooks to the steelworks and filled them with ideas for possible paintings, working them up into gouaches and paintings in his studio. One of these sketchbooks, dating from 1950, is now housed in the Keith Vaughan Archive at Tate Britain. This was a time when toil and labour were associated with social progress and civic rejuvenation.
The spontaneous, direct handling and interesting combination of pen, ink, gouache and wax crayon is typical of Vaughan’s unique ‘volatile medium’, as he liked to call it (see, unpublished interview with Dr. Tony Carter and Keith Vaughan, 1963).
Gerard Hastings, 2018.
The theme of labour occurs often in Vaughan’s work and especially during the years following the war. The present work was probably painted around 1950. He had developed a healthy respect for hard work, having been a member of the Non Combatant Corps during the war, and this attitude stayed with him for the rest of his life.
Over the course of his career Vaughan represented all types of labourers engaging in every manner of grueling physical activity. These included quarrymen, gardeners, coalmen, farm workers, woodmen, fishermen, tree cutters, ploughmen, harvesters, shearers, metal workers and hod carriers. He was attracted by the look and attitude of these manual workers, their physical prowess and their masculine appearance. Not only did he admire them but, as his journal reveals, he also envied them. As a middle-class intellectual and a successful artist, Vaughan harboured a deep-rooted sense of guilt that his professional life was of the ‘easy’ variety. He grew increasingly self-conscious that his artistic talents brought him significant rewards compared to those who engaged in strenuous labour to earn their daily bread.
Four years after the war and during a period of significant optimism and patriotism in Britain, Vaughan executed a series of gouaches of steel workers, of which the present work is an example. He took his sketchbooks to the steelworks and filled them with ideas for possible paintings, working them up into gouaches and paintings in his studio. One of these sketchbooks, dating from 1950, is now housed in the Keith Vaughan Archive at Tate Britain. This was a time when toil and labour were associated with social progress and civic rejuvenation.
The spontaneous, direct handling and interesting combination of pen, ink, gouache and wax crayon is typical of Vaughan’s unique ‘volatile medium’, as he liked to call it (see, unpublished interview with Dr. Tony Carter and Keith Vaughan, 1963).
Gerard Hastings, 2018.