Keith Vaughan, (British, 1912-1977)

Woodland Figure and Head Study

Woodland Figure and Head Study
stamped with studio stamp 'K.V.' (lower right)
pencil on paper
17 x 11cm (6 11/16 x 4 5/16in).
Executed in 1949

Provenance
With Abbott and Holder, London
Private Collection, U.K., by whom bequeathed to the present owner

The male nude figure in a woodland setting was a theme that occupied Vaughan over the course of the 1948/9 (see, A Man and His House, 1948, Pear Tree Bathers, 1948, Water Trees and Figures I & II, 1948 and The Lake with Bathers, 1949). In each example we encounter blocked-in background forms beginning to penetrate the nude in an attempt to unite landscape and figure. This typical sketchbook study demonstrates both the decisive and more sensitive use that Vaughan made of the pencil.

We are grateful to Gerard Hastings, whose forthcoming book on Keith Vaughan's graphic work will be published by Pagham Press, for compiling this catalogue note.