Keith Vaughan 1912-1977
Ochre Figure, 1952
watercolour, gouache, pen and ink
13½ x 9 ins
signed 'Keith Vaughan' lower right

Provenance
L. G. Duke CBE
Thomas Agnew & Sons, London
Humphrey Whitbread

Exhibited
Keith Vaughan- Retrospective Exhibition, Whitechapel Gallery, London, March-April 1962

Literature
Keith Vaughan- Retrospective Exhibition Catalogue, Whitechapel Gallery, London, 1962
catalogue no.157, illustrated plate no. XLVI



Vaughan’s investigation of the male figure lasted throughout his career. Drawing together strands as diverse as classical sculpture and the bathers of Cezanne, his images of monumental yet real figures are perhaps the legacy by which he is seen at his best. His involvement in the literary influenced artistic movement now categorized as Neo-Romanticism in the years during and immediately after WWII, brought an element of humanity and frailty to his work which gives these intimate studies a timeless appeal.

The mixture of media in which images such as the present work are rendered proved ideal for a painter for whom the drawn line remained at the root of his art, combining the flat areas of matt gouache with pencil and pen and ink to highlight the line and grace of his subject.