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拍品专文
Snow on Hampstead Heath demonstrates Vaughan's dual embrace of figuration and abstraction. His earlier work had been firmly rooted within the figurative tradition closely allied with the neo-romantic movement echoing the work of Sutherland, Minton and Piper (see lot 58). In 1953, Vaughan saw an exhibition of Nicholas de Staël's work at Matthiesens and was impressed with de Staël's masterful application of paint and how his abstract work could still communicate about reality.
Vaughan was, however, reluctant to fully embrace the movement and wrote on 4 January 1954, 'Abstraction seems the way out for most other painters. But I cannot regard it as a solution. The language of 'pure' form is too subjective. I refuse to embark on anything as soon as the outcome can be foreseen; as soon as I know it lies within my grasp. Yet almost everything I do looks as though it has been done precisely because I know how' (see Journal & Drawings 1939-1965, London, 1966, p. 138).
The present work demonstrates how Vaughan rooted his paintings directly in an observed reality. Trees and snow are apparent in Snow on Hampstead Heath and, at the same time, the composition works as a balance of planes of flatttened colour. Vaughan never saw himself as a completely abstract painter, commenting, 'for me painting which has not got a representational element in it hardly goes beyond the point of design' (see N. Barber, Conversations with Painters, London, 1954, p. 90).
Vaughan was, however, reluctant to fully embrace the movement and wrote on 4 January 1954, 'Abstraction seems the way out for most other painters. But I cannot regard it as a solution. The language of 'pure' form is too subjective. I refuse to embark on anything as soon as the outcome can be foreseen; as soon as I know it lies within my grasp. Yet almost everything I do looks as though it has been done precisely because I know how' (see Journal & Drawings 1939-1965, London, 1966, p. 138).
The present work demonstrates how Vaughan rooted his paintings directly in an observed reality. Trees and snow are apparent in Snow on Hampstead Heath and, at the same time, the composition works as a balance of planes of flatttened colour. Vaughan never saw himself as a completely abstract painter, commenting, 'for me painting which has not got a representational element in it hardly goes beyond the point of design' (see N. Barber, Conversations with Painters, London, 1954, p. 90).