Keith Vaughan

Mr E.W. Marshall, Barnes, London

Redfern Gallery, London, where acquired by Robert May Esq., 11 October 1951

Geoffrey Beene

Sale, Sotheby's New York, 23rd September 2005, lot 40, where acquired by the previous owner

Sale, Sotheby’s, London, 13th December 2007, lot 117, where acquired by the present owner

Around 1949 Vaughan became preoccupied with the subject of interior scenes containing figures, sometimes an individual and sometimes a couple. (see Studio Interior, 1950; The Trial, 1950; The Return of the Prodigal Son, 1950; Supper at Worpeswede, 1951 etc.) What interested him in particular with this subject was the unstated, emotional tension generated between the figures. Two situations seem to have precipitated the need to represent such domestic human conflicts in terms of pigment.

In September 1946 Vaughan’s friend and colleague John Minton asked him to move into 37 Hamilton Terrace. At first, their relationship was close and mutually supportive both professionally and personally. However, the domestic mood began to deteriorate into a series of petty squabbles and, later, into simmering silences:

December 28: The situation, on the face of it a mere domestic one, proceeds from deeper issues. Johnny’s ‘feasting with panthers’ continues – a daily routine now for some 12 days – producing noise, mess, confusion, domestic muddle & a sense of insecurity & danger…But whereas Johnny thrives on this, I am reduced at the moment entirely to a state of misery & anxiety. Of course no word passes between us about this, but the situation is fully understood on both sides resulting in a state of perpetual tension. (Keith Vaughan, Journal, December 28, 1949)

Alternate friction & reconciliation with Johnny (I don’t know which is the most trying emotionally) brings home the irksome & inescapable fact of a necessary move away before long. Impossible to go on indefinitely with him. I hardly am ever able to be alone – really alone. Only at the moments when I do, escaping his domination, do I realise how much he holds me back…Johnny’s pathetic blundering about with life – as dangerous and disquieting as a child with a lethal weapon – in which, nevertheless, I cannot help secretly envying a certain vitalism, lacking deplorably in mine, a certain physical contact with the life of today (Keith Vaughan, Journal, January 7, 1950)

In 1948 Vaughan began an affair with Ramsay McClure and, within a few weeks, he moved into Hamilton Terrace – a decision Vaughan regretted for the rest of his life. Their relationship was stormy from the outset, characterised by violent rows and bitter recriminations They remained companions until the artist’s death in 1977. It is difficult not to read into the numerous canvases, gouaches and drawings which Vaughan produced at this time, something of the frustration and strife that was present in his domestic situation. 

Gerard Hastings