26/03/2026
There have been exceptional visitor numbers to our current exhibition, Keith Vaughan: States of Tension, since we opened on 4th March, and we have also benefitted from media coverage. Several of the paintings on show have not been available to buy for many years and are accompanied by impressive exhibition history. The exhibition continues until Thursday 2nd April, with the added opportunity to visit us at 21 Cork Street Mayfair this coming Saturday, 28th March (10am – 2pm).
Follow the link to view the exhibition catalogue: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1542942-keith-vaughan-states-of-tension/0?
Pictured: Seated Figure, 1951
Oil on canvas
91.5 x 71.1 cm (36 x 28 in)
Though Vaughan first encountered Picasso’s work in the 1930s while working as a designer, his visits to the 1946 V&A exhibition, Picasso and Matisse, provided an opportunity to study his paintings more closely. The impact was decisive. Vaughan’s figures acquired greater weight, articulation and physical presence, while anatomical proportions became deliberately manipulated. In Seated Figure, the head is reduced in scale while the torso is enlarged; the upraised leg conveys weight and tension, transferring force downward through the table leg. Attenuated limbs and squared joints emphasise bodily mechanics.
Seated Figure was first exhibited at the Lefevre Gallery in London in 1951. As soon as the exhibition opened, the collector Peter Meyer (dubbed ‘the Charles Saatchi of the 1950s’) purchased it. Meyer kept the painting for the rest of his life, where it took pride of place in his Chelsea home and was regarded as the jewel of his collection.