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Lot Essay
Whenever he could get away from his army duties at Eden Camp during the 1940s, Vaughan took himself off on long walks and bicycle rides, carrying with him his studio equipment in a knapsack. This consisted of a few bottles of ink, some pencils, wax crayons, tubes of gouache and a candle stub with which to make his wax resists.
He made many detailed studies of the Yorkshire landscape, noting geological and architectural features that attracted him, in this case Helmsley Castle, a few miles North West of the camp. These were then worked up afterwards back in the barracks.
The present work is interesting as it is one of several that Vaughan returned to many years later. On top of his original drawing, made in situ, he has blocked in certain forms and simplified the detail and structure of the design with passages of alternating translucent and opaque use of gouache. His signature too dates from a later period. The result is a concentrated image that captures the bleakness of the landscape and the climate of the north country.
We are grateful to Gerard Hastings, whose new book Awkward Artefacts: The ‘Erotic Fantasies’ of Keith Vaughan is published by Pagham Press in association with the Keith Vaughan Society, for preparing this catalogue entry.
He made many detailed studies of the Yorkshire landscape, noting geological and architectural features that attracted him, in this case Helmsley Castle, a few miles North West of the camp. These were then worked up afterwards back in the barracks.
The present work is interesting as it is one of several that Vaughan returned to many years later. On top of his original drawing, made in situ, he has blocked in certain forms and simplified the detail and structure of the design with passages of alternating translucent and opaque use of gouache. His signature too dates from a later period. The result is a concentrated image that captures the bleakness of the landscape and the climate of the north country.
We are grateful to Gerard Hastings, whose new book Awkward Artefacts: The ‘Erotic Fantasies’ of Keith Vaughan is published by Pagham Press in association with the Keith Vaughan Society, for preparing this catalogue entry.
