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Lot Essay
1965 was truly a gouache year and Vaughan produced an avalanche of paintings, the process having become a kind of neurotic compulsion. In his journals he referred to his creative outbursts as 'gouache marathons' and recorded his progress with ever-increasing manic intensity. In mid-January he noted: 'Not much to say. Seven gouaches completed since the beginning of the year.' (Journal, January 17, 1965). By the end of February he had finished around thirty-five, and by the summer the number had grown considerably as he counted '61 large gouaches, 15 small, completed since last November.' (Journal, June 7, 1965). Towards the end of July Vaughan confided just how obsessive and time-consuming his gouache process was. He wrote: 'The routine continues. I start the day with gouache. I have no particular idea in mind, but there is nothing else to do. 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.' (Journal, July 26, 1965).'
(P. Vann and G.Hastings, Keith Vaughan, London, 2012, p.170)
Vaughan visited Morocco in April 1965 with his friend and doctor, Patrick Woodcock. They hired a car and drove across the country, stopping at Agadir, Essaouira, Satat, the Atlas Mountains, Taroudant, Marrakech, El Jadida, Casablanca and Tangier. The visit had a profound effect on Vaughan's painting and he produced a series of mysterious Moroccan gouaches; twenty-seven of these were shown at the Marlborough New London Gallery in October that year. As a result of the visit Vaughan's forms became more simplified, his colours more intense and his use of gouache pigment more assured. Here a group of Arabs assemble perhaps on a beach at twilight. The dominant figure is silhouetted ominously against the horizon while other figures crouch or emerge from the interlocking composition.
G.H.
(P. Vann and G.Hastings, Keith Vaughan, London, 2012, p.170)
Vaughan visited Morocco in April 1965 with his friend and doctor, Patrick Woodcock. They hired a car and drove across the country, stopping at Agadir, Essaouira, Satat, the Atlas Mountains, Taroudant, Marrakech, El Jadida, Casablanca and Tangier. The visit had a profound effect on Vaughan's painting and he produced a series of mysterious Moroccan gouaches; twenty-seven of these were shown at the Marlborough New London Gallery in October that year. As a result of the visit Vaughan's forms became more simplified, his colours more intense and his use of gouache pigment more assured. Here a group of Arabs assemble perhaps on a beach at twilight. The dominant figure is silhouetted ominously against the horizon while other figures crouch or emerge from the interlocking composition.
G.H.