James Hyman Gallery
Skip to main content
  • Menu
  • Artists
  • Recent Arrivals
  • Notable Sales
  • Exhibitions
  • Art Fairs
  • About Us
Cart
0 items £
Checkout

Item added to cart

View cart & checkout
Continue shopping
Menu

Artworks

Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Keith Vaughan, Bathers by the Reservoir: Marrakesh, 1965

Keith Vaughan 1912-1977

Bathers by the Reservoir: Marrakesh, 1965
Gouache on paper
49 x 41 cms
19 4/16 x 16 2/16 ins
10449
Sold
View on a Wall
  • View on a Wall
  • View on a Wall
  • View on a Wall
  • View on a Wall
This gouache was made in 1965 after Vaughan returned from a road trip around Morocco with his friend and doctor Patrick Woodcock; they hired a car and drove from South...
Read more
This gouache was made in 1965 after Vaughan returned from a road trip around Morocco with his friend and doctor Patrick Woodcock; they hired a car and drove from South to North. Vaughan noted the changes in the quality of the terrain and recorded his observations in his journal, highlighting the impression the faded, maroon landscape, the Atlas mountains and hot beaches had on him. He stated, 'Marvellous landscape driving up the coastal road from Agadir. Dry, luminous, scrubby foothills cinnamon pink to ochre white dotted with dark olives & patches of glowing saturated colour.Tremendous intensity of light, burning sun' (K. Vaughan, Journal, 19 April 1965).

On his return, Vaughan's palette intensified becoming richer and warmer. The sharp, crystalline light of Morocco revealed new colour combinations. He wrote, 'The cotton djellabas start a deep indigo blue and bleach in the sun through every tone of the colour until they reach a bluish white. The same dye must be used in the paint on all the shutters in Essaouira which are indigo inside and pale cobalt outside' (K. Vaughan, Journals & Drawings, Alan Ross, 1966, p. 212).

The figures of the seated bathers presented here are traced out with a characteristically summary outline. The combination of ink, oil pastel and gouache, is typical of Vaughan's preference for a rich and varied surface. 1965 was a gouache year for him and he produced an avalanche of paintings, many of which were inspired by his Moroccan sojourn. He referred to these creative outbursts as 'gouache marathons', and recorded his progress with ever-increasing manic intensity. By the summer he produced nearly eighty. He confided just how obsessive and time-consuming his gouache process was:

'The routine continues. I start the day with gouache. I have no particular idea in mind, but there is nothing else to do. After breakfast, I get out the pots and jars and rags and paper. It is quite systematized now. I have been doing it since last November. Like everything else compulsive. And it adds up to agonised futility. Yet the effect of it is no more futile than other people's routine. But mine is solitary. It involves no one else. I have done more gouaches that ever can be shown or sold. Yet I continue to do them because there is nothing else I can do' (K. Vaughan, Journal, July 26, 1965).
Close full details

Provenance

Marlborough Fine Art, Ltd.
Private Collection
Share
  • Facebook
  • X
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Email
Previous
|
Next
432 
of  848

ALL WORKS ARE OFFERED SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY AND PRICE REVISION 

Click here for Terms and Conditions of Sale

 

Join our mailing list here.

Instagram, opens in a new tab.
Artsy, opens in a new tab.
Privacy Policy
Manage cookies
Copyright © 2025 James Hyman Gallery
Site by Artlogic

This website uses cookies
This site uses cookies to help make it more useful to you. Please contact us to find out more about our Cookie Policy.

Manage cookies
Accept

Cookie preferences

Check the boxes for the cookie categories you allow our site to use

Cookie options
Required for the website to function and cannot be disabled.
Improve your experience on the website by storing choices you make about how it should function.
Allow us to collect anonymous usage data in order to improve the experience on our website.
Allow us to identify our visitors so that we can offer personalised, targeted marketing.
Save preferences
Close

Join our mailing list

Signup

* denotes required fields

We will process the personal data you have supplied to communicate with you in accordance with our Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.