Keith Vaughan (1912-1977)

This drawing was discovered in Vaughan's studio after his death by the painter Prunella Clough, who was one of his executors. It was contained in a folder labeled 'Grafitti Drawings' [sic], in Vaughan's inimitable dyslexic manner. It provides an insight into his psychosexual core that was so important in feeding his wider creative abilities, and represents the culmination of decades of continual draughtsmanship. Such late drawings give voice to what John Ball described as 'Keith's complex sexuality and his refined artistic vision. They are wonderfully evocative and masterfully concise. For me they're some of the finest things that Keith produced - distilled rather like Beethoven's late quartets or Eliot's best poems - seemingly effortless yet packed with significance. There's such an economy of means - a few lines express an entire biography or a complex encounter. Keith drew to work out his passions and make his emotional requirements concrete. Most are terribly personal and so very moving in their honesty; they're concerned with basic and often brutal human truths and examine complicated inter-relationships - what more can one ask of an artist?' (Exhibition catalogue, Keith Vaughan: Gouaches, Drawings and Prints, Osborne Samuel, London, 2011, p.12).

We are very grateful to Gerard Hastings, author of Drawing to a Close: The Final Journals of Keith Vaughan, Pagham Press, 2012 for his assistance in cataloguing the present lot and lot 460.