Keith Vaughan (British, 1912-1977)


Assembly of Figures II signed and dated 'Keith Vaughan/1965' (lower right); titled and dated again 'Assembly of figures #2/1965' (on a label attached to the backboard)wash, gouache, pen and ink and wax crayon52.5 x 44.8 cm. (20 5/8 x 17 5/8 in.)
|ProvenanceThe Artist, from whom acquired byRussell StraussSale; Sotheby's, London, 11 May 1988, lot 129With Louise Hallett Gallery, London, where acquired by the present ownerPrivate Collection, U.K.The theme of figures assembling held a significant position in Vaughan's work. He painted numerous versions, in both oil and gouache, of congested crowds inhabiting unidentifiable settings. In this particular painting a foreground figure acts as an intermediary between the viewer and the assembled group behind. Vaughan reflected in his Journal on the implications that this subject held for him: "I would like to be able to paint a crowd – that abstract entity referred to by the sociologists as the masses. An amorphous compressed lump of impermanent shape reacting as a mass to environmentally stimuli yet composed of isolated human egos retaining their own separate incommunicable identities. In the past artists have usually dealt with the problem of crowds by turning them into assemblies. Assemblies are orderly rhythmic groups of individuals which act and are acted upon by mutual consent. The behaviour of an assembly is at least compatible with that of any member composing it and often surpasses him in achievement. The behaviour of a crowd follows its own laws and generates its own energy. It is inferior, humanly speaking, to any one member composing it and usually acts contrary to his interests, and can even accomplish his destruction." (Keith Vaughan, 'Some Notes on Painting', Journal, August 1964).1965 was a pure gouache year for Vaughan; he abandoned oil painting altogether and did not produce any paintings on canvas. The year started with one of his 'gouache marathons', as he called them. He worked in a frenzy, painting impulsively, sometimes from morning to late evening. He recorded his progress in his Journal:26 July 1965: "The routine continues. I start the day with gouache. I have no particular idea in mind...After breakfast, I get out the pots and jars and rags and paper. It is quite systematized now. I have been doing it since last November. Like everything else – compulsive. And it adds up to agonised futility. Yet the effect of it is no more futile than other people's routine. But mine is solitary. It involves no one else. I have done more gouaches that ever can be shown or sold. Yet I continue to do them because there is nothing else I can do."By June Vaughan had painted sixty-one works and, by the end of the year, he had completed around one hundred and thirty gouaches. At this time his use of paint became fluid and extremely eloquent. He was habitually using oil pastels in conjunction with Indian ink and gouache. Vigorous scumblings applied with a half-dry brush and speckled deposits of watery ink on top of oil-based pastel add to his pictorial inventions, along with translucent veils of pallid pigment. Vaughan's sparing use of colour with additions of vibrant blue accents, intensifies and concentrates the visual impact. The resulting effect is quilt-like and the tight composition is embroidered together with wandering brush-tracks.We are grateful to Gerard Hastings for compiling this catalogue entry and to Anthony Hepworth for his assistance in cataloguing this lot. Gerard Hasting's book, Awkward Artefacts: The 'Erotic Fantasies' of Keith Vaughan, is published by Pagham Press in association with The Keith Vaughan Society.