Standing figure

This work was made in 1959, precisely the time when Vaughan was working at the Iowa State University Art Department in America. It was here that he discovered oil pastels (as opposed to wax crayons or chalk pastels) and he instantly recognised their potential. The present work represents one of Vaughan's first essays in oil pastel. One quality which attracted him to this new medium was the vibrant density of colour saturation which could be achieved; here he demonstrates this with succulent, high key colours within the figure. Moreover, the immediate manner in which pastels can be applied, rubbed and blended together without mixing or smudging appealed to Vaughan and the clarity of design bears this out. Perhaps Vaughan's greatest achievement was to arrive at a synthesis between the image and the medium; this is certainly true in this work. The picture retains a complete graphic record of its own making and explicitly maps out all the individual steps the artist took to execute it.

The subject of the male figure is the quintessential Vaughan theme. Here the figure stands naked against an azure background. He may be a sunbather, an athlete or a swimmer; as always with Vaughan's subjects he remains anonymous and unidentified but functions poetically as a cipher or symbol; this is not a particular man, but mankind in general.
G.H.