When people ask which work of art from the OJAC collection is my favorite, I have difficulty answering the question. There are so many candidates that picking just one seems like an impossible if not futile exercise. But one work that always catches my attention and draws me in is a painting by the British artist Keith Vaughan (1912-1977) titled Standing Figure created in 1953.
You may be wondering, why does an art museum in a small “west” Texas town own a painting by a mid-twentieth century British artist? A similar question could be applied to any number of works in the collection, but this particular work entered the collection through the efforts of founding director Reilly Nail in 1990. Reilly was an “anglophile”—a person who admires or is fond of all things English or British. He went through a phase of collecting modern and some contemporary British works of art. In fact, the OJAC has a small, yet surprising number of works by British artists including Henry Moore, Patrick Heron, Dereck Boshier, Adrian Heath, among others. Few of these artists are likely recognized by most American audiences, but they play a pivotal role in the development of British modern art.
We are often influenced to “like” a work because someone tells us the artist or their work is important. Personally, I was a fan of Vaughan’s Standing Figure even prior to researching him. Yet, as I gained knowledge about his personal life, struggles, and his art, this painting did begin to “read” differently and enhanced my appreciation beyond its more formal aspects that first appealed to me.
With all that said, my positive responses to the work may differ with those of other viewers. Like all works of art, each individual has a unique perspective, interpretation, intangible preference, and conclusive response—normally verbalized with a “like” or “dislike.”
For more specific information as to why I “like” this work, tune in to a forthcoming Part II of the staff blog focusing on Keith Vaughan as an artist and individual as well as his painting Standing Figure.
Patrick Kelly, Executive Director and Curator
Keith Vaughan, Standing Figure, 1953, oil on canvas. Museum purchase, 1990.006.