Φ Keith Vaughan (1912-1977)

Φ Keith Vaughan (1912-1977)
Abstraction No.1 (or Abstract No.1)
Signed, inscribed and dated Abstract No1/1950/Keith Vaughan (to backing board)
Oil on towelling laid on board
30 x 36.8cm

Provenance:
Whitford Fine Art, London;
Private Collection, UK

Exhibited:
Buenos Aires, Instituto de Arte Moderno, Keith Vaughan: Paintings andGouaches, 1950, no.13;
London, Hanover Gallery, Space and Colour, 1953, no.50

Literature:
Anthony Hepworth and Ian Massey, Keith Vaughan: The Mature Oils 1946-1977 (Sansom & Company, Bristol, 2012), p.64, no.AH85

The present painting marks a turning point in Keith Vaughan's work, for it is, as Anthony Hepworth has noted, the first oil painting in which Vaughan moves away from a purely figurative format. However, there are still references to the gables and windows of a building, and in his work diary Vaughan titled the work Abstraction No.1 which seems to acknowledge that it is not a pure abstract (although he changed it to Abstract No.1 when he exhibited it). Vaughan's experimental nature is further illustrated by the fact he has painted on towelling, giving the work a soft and fuzzy quality.