Study for Interior at Locmariaquer

In the summer of 1949 Vaughan undertook a cycling tour of Finistére in Brittany. Several paintings were produced on his return to London, representing not only fishermen and bathers but also sparsely furnished hotel rooms containing nude figures and still life compositions (Interior with Nude Figures, 1949; Figure at a Table, 1950; Studio Interior, 1950). One particular painting entitled Interior at Locmariaquer (1950), for which the present drawing is a detailed study, apparently gave Vaughan some trouble and it underwent several major repaintings and transformations (see J. N. Ball, Keith Vaughan: Images of Man, nos. 13 and 13a). To assist him in this creative process, the artist made several studies and two densely worked, jewel-like 'table drawings', of which this is one.

Whenever painting proved difficult, Vaughan turned to drawing. The drawings of the 1950s are among some of Vaughan's best; mysterious assemblies of figures inhabit landscapes with outstretched and upraised arms. Densely shaded domestic settings are peopled with thickset characters playing out enigmatic relationships. These drawings communicate how limbs are articulated and how figures pass through and inhabit space. Contours and profiles are invested with volume while simultaneously retaining the planar integrity of the page (G. Hastings, Keith Vaughan: Four Decades of Drawing, September, 2010)

We are very grateful, for the compilation of the notes for the present lot and lots 60 and 61, to Gerard Hastings (author of Drawing to a Close: The Final Journals of Keith Vaughan, Pagham Press), who is currently working on a book on Vaughan's photography.