KEITH VAUGHAN (BRITISH, 1912-1977): LIFE DRAWING

depicting two nudes, one in pencil attributed to Vaughan, and one in pen by another hand, inscribed 'drawing by Keith Vaughn 1952/53', framed and glazed,

33cm x 18cm excluding frame

AAR

Provenance: Viktor Wynd’s Museum, London.

The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & UnNatural History is a contemporary reinterpretation of a Pre-Enlightenment Wunderkabinett or Cabinet of Curiosities. It is the creation of artist and writer Viktor Wynd, who has just opened a Falmouth branch of his museum inside the National Maritime Museum. His most recent book 'The UnNatural History Museum' was published by Prestel in 2020.

Gerard Hastings writes of the drawing: "Several qualities indicate that the drawing is by the hand of Keith Vaughan: The characteristic serrated, jagged use of line The alternating hard/soft touch of the pencil The rounded head and inclusion of the ear (see paintings such as Group of Bathers (1951) and his lithograph Finistère (1952) etc. The somewhat ‘masculine’ characterisation of the female nude’s anatomy General Points: Vaughan is primarily known for his paintings and drawings of the male nude. He painted very few female nudes and his drawings of them are equally rare; they are usually life drawings, such as this. As a consequence his drawings of women are not much sought after. The handwriting at the lower right is not by Vaughan and was probably made by a student some considerable time later (hence the uncertainty of the year). The style is consistent with Vaughan’s drawings of the very early 1950s and would indicate that the drawing was executed while he was teaching at the Central School of Art and Design. The holes at the upper right and lower left (and presumably under the mount at the corresponding side), are from drawing pins. The sheet was probably pinned to a drawing board on an easel during one of Vaughan’s life class. The pen and ink drawing at the upper right is not by Vaughan. Presumably it was made by the student and, as was his custom, Vaughan intervened and made a demonstration drawing on the same sheet."