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Lot Essay
At the time Vaughan made this pen and ink drawing of a winter oak tree, his journal reveals that he was re-reading Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando, 1928, and he expresses his identification with the central character. He had learnt passages of the book by heart as a schoolboy, admitting that 'It seemed like a primer for the life I desired.' The complex narrative is anchored by the central symbol of an oak tree and Vaughan made several representations of oaks in his sketchbooks over the course of this year. He wrote in 1940 'I walked across the hard grass to look down with the moon through the torn clouds that straggled the sky over the winter trees. Orlando and the Oak tree a sort of phatasmagoria of tangled visions and unbalanced emotion.' (Keith Vaughan: Journal, unpublished entry, Volume III, p. 115). The solitary winter tree is in keeping with Vaughan's early Neo-Romantic style. Several branches having been lopped off and it stands as a metaphor for Vaughan's own emotionally isolated state at this time.
G.H. (notes relating to the other two parts in this lot can be read online)
Soldiers digging a trench:
In 1940 Vaughan was working with the St John's Ambulance Brigade in Shere and, later, the Air Raid Patrol unit in Guildford. He had not enlisted yet with the Non Combatant Corps where he carried out heavy labouring work. This image of soldiers digging a deep trench as part of wartime defences, may have been drawn on Hampstead Heath, which was being dug up to fill sandbags. Alternatively, it might be connected to a curious incident in which Vaughan was involved in 1940:
"On a September walk near Guildford [Vaughan] came upon a deep trench across a meadow and decided to set up his easel there and paint it, having first got permission from the lieutenant in charge of the digging party. A short while after he had begun, a policeman passing on his bike saw him, encouraged him to carry on, and then pedalled off to fetch three reinforcements and a black van to arrest Vaughan for contravening Defence Regulations. He was thrown into Guildford jail."
(Malcolm Yorke: Keith Vaughan, p 60). Vaughan was imprisoned for a week and fined 25.
Ornamental Garden:
Vaughan developed the habit of carrying around notepads and a bottle of sepia ink to record visual information for his paintings. Wartime rationing meant that his materials were limited. This ornamental garden, with its curious topiary, was obviously of enough interest for him to record.
G.H. (notes relating to the other two parts in this lot can be read online)
Soldiers digging a trench:
In 1940 Vaughan was working with the St John's Ambulance Brigade in Shere and, later, the Air Raid Patrol unit in Guildford. He had not enlisted yet with the Non Combatant Corps where he carried out heavy labouring work. This image of soldiers digging a deep trench as part of wartime defences, may have been drawn on Hampstead Heath, which was being dug up to fill sandbags. Alternatively, it might be connected to a curious incident in which Vaughan was involved in 1940:
"On a September walk near Guildford [Vaughan] came upon a deep trench across a meadow and decided to set up his easel there and paint it, having first got permission from the lieutenant in charge of the digging party. A short while after he had begun, a policeman passing on his bike saw him, encouraged him to carry on, and then pedalled off to fetch three reinforcements and a black van to arrest Vaughan for contravening Defence Regulations. He was thrown into Guildford jail."
(Malcolm Yorke: Keith Vaughan, p 60). Vaughan was imprisoned for a week and fined 25.
Ornamental Garden:
Vaughan developed the habit of carrying around notepads and a bottle of sepia ink to record visual information for his paintings. Wartime rationing meant that his materials were limited. This ornamental garden, with its curious topiary, was obviously of enough interest for him to record.