John Keith Vaughan (23 August 1912 – 4 November 1977), was a British painter.[1] His work is held in the collections of the Government Art Collection,[2] National Galleries Scotland,[3] National Portrait Gallery,[4] Tate[1] and Victoria and Albert Museum in the UK.[5]

Early life

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Born at Selsey in West Sussex, Vaughan attended Christ's Hospital school.

He worked in an advertising agency until World War II, when as an intending conscientious objector he joined the St. John Ambulance; in 1941 he was conscripted into the Non-Combatant Corps.

Art career

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A Barrack-room (1942) by Keith Vaughan

Vaughan was self-taught as an artist. His first exhibitions took place during the war. In 1942 he was stationed at Ashton Gifford near Codford in Wiltshire, and paintings from this time include The Wall at Ashton Gifford (Manchester Art Gallery).

During the war Vaughan formed friendships with the painters Graham Sutherland and John Minton, with whom after demobilisation in 1946 he shared premises. Through these contacts he formed part of the neo-romantic circle of the immediate post-war period. However, Vaughan rapidly developed an idiosyncratic style which moved him away from the Neo-Romantics. Concentrating on studies of male figures, his works became increasingly abstract.

Vaughan is also known for his journals, selections from which were published in 1966 and more extensively in 1989, after his death. A gay man troubled by his sexuality, he is known largely through those journals.[6]

Educator

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Vaughan worked as an art teacher at the Camberwell College of Arts, the Central School of Art and later at the Slade School.

Later life and death

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He was diagnosed with cancer in 1975 and died by suicide in 1977 in London, recording his last moments in his diary as the drugs overdose took effect.[7]

Art market

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His auction record of £313,250 was set at Sotheby's, London, on 11 November 2009, for the oil on canvas Theseus and the Minotaur, previously in the collection of Richard Attenborough[8] (who bought it in 1967).

Publications

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  • Keith Vaughan. Journals & Drawings, 1966, published in London by Alan Ross, 219 pages.
  • Keith Vaughan: Journals 1939–1977, ed Alan Ross, 1989, published in London by John Murray, 217 pages, ISBN 0-7195-4732-6.
  • Keith Vaughan, His Life and Work, Malcolm Yorke, 1990, published in London by Constable, 288 pages, ISBN 0-09-469780-9 (Hardback)

Exhibitions

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1944
Keith Vaughan: Gouaches and Drawings, Alex Reid and Lefevre Gallery, London
1946
Keith Vaughan: Paintings and Gouaches, Alex Reid and Lefevre Gallery, London
1948
Keith Vaughan: Paintings and Gouaches, George Dix Gallery, New York
Keith Vaughan: Paintings, Gouaches and Monotypes, Alex Reid and Lefevre Gallery, London
1950
Keith Vaughan: Paintings and Gouaches, Instituto de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires
Gouaches, Redfern Gallery, London
1951
Keith Vaughan: Paintings and Gouaches, Alex Reid and Lefevre Gallery, London
1952
Keith Vaughan: Retrospective Exhibition, Redfern Gallery, London
Keith Vaughan – Drawings for Rimbaud: Une Saison en Enfer, Hanover Gallery, London
Keith Vaughan: Paintings and Gouaches, Durlacher Bros, New York
1953
Keith Vaughan: Paintings, Leicester Galleries, London
1955
Keith Vaughan: Gouaches, Leicester Galleries, London
Keith Vaughan: Paintings and Gouaches, Durlacher Bros, New York
1956
Keith Vaughan: New Paintings, Leicester Galleries, London
Keith Vaughan: Retrospective Show, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle
1957
Keith Vaughan: Travelling Retrospective, (based on Keith Vaughan: Retrospective Show, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle), Arts Council
Keith Vaughan: Paintings and Gouaches, Durlacher Bros, New York
1958
Keith Vaughan: Paintings, Leicester Galleries, London
1959
Keith Vaughan: Paintings and Gouaches, Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Keith Vaughan, Leicester Galleries, London
1960
Keith Vaughan: Paintings, Gouaches and Drawings, Matthiesen Gallery, London
1962
Keith Vaughan: Retrospective Exhibition, Whitechapel Gallery, London
1963
Keith Vaughan: Drawings, Bienal de Sao Paulo
1964
Keith Vaughan: Paintings, Gouaches and Charcoals, Marlborough New London Gallery, London
1965
Keith Vaughan: Gouaches, Bear Lane Gallery, Oxford
Keith Vaughan: Recent Gouaches, Marlborough Fine Art, London
1966
Keith Vaughan: Paintings, Durlacher Bros, New York
1967
Keith Vaughan: Retrospective Drawings, Tib Lane Gallery, Manchester
1968
Keith Vaughan: Gouaches, Rex Evans Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Keith Vaughan: New Paintings, Marlborough Fine Art, London
Keith Vaughan: Gouaches and Drawings 1942–46, Hamet Gallery, London
1969
Keith Vaughan: Retrospective Exhibition, Mappin Gallery, Sheffield
Keith Vaughan: Drawings, Tib Lane Gallery, Manchester
1970
Keith Vaughan: Paintings, Gouaches and Drawings, Bear Lane Gallery, Oxford
Keith Vaughan: Gouaches and Drawings, Hamet Gallery, London
Keith Vaughan: Retrospective, University of York, York
1973
Keith Vaughan: New Paintings, Waddington Galleries, London
Keith Vaughan: Paintings in Gouaches, Victor Waddington Gallery, London
1976
Keith Vaughan: New Paintings and Gouaches, Waddington Galleries, London
Keith Vaughan: Paintings, Gouaches and Drawings, Tib Lane Gallery, Manchester
Keith Vaughan: Paintings and Gouaches and Drawings, Compass Gallery, Glasgow
1977
Keith Vaughan: Memorial Exhibition, Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield
1981
Keith Vaughan: Images of Man: Figurative Paintings: 1946–1960, Geffrye Museum, London and Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery
1985
Keith Vaughan: Drawings and Paintings, New Grafton Gallery, London
Keith Vaughan: Early Drawings and Gouaches, Thomas Agnew & Sons, London
1987
Keith Vaughan: Paintings and Drawings, New Grafton Gallery, London
Keith Vaughan: Paintings, Gouaches, Watercolours and Drawings 1936–76, Austin/Desmond Fine Art, Sunninghill
Keith Vaughan: Paintings, Watercolours and Drawings, Mercury Gallery, Edinburgh
Keith Vaughan: Works on Paper, Garry Anderson Gallery, Darlinghurst
1989
Keith Vaughan, Austin/Desmond Fine Art, London
Keith Vaughan: Gouaches, Drawings, Notebook Sketches, Redfern Gallery, London
1990
Keith Vaughan: Retrospective, Thomas Agnew & Sons, London
Keith Vaughan: Paintings, Drawings, Gouaches, Anthony Hepworth Fine Art, Bath
1991
Drawings of the Young Male, St Jude's, London
Keith Vaughan: Drawings, Anthony Hepworth Fine Art, Bath
1994
Keith Vaughan: Works on Paper, Redfern Gallery, London
1995
Keith Vaughan: Les Illuminations de Rimbaud, an Exhibition of 42 Drawings, Deka, London
Keith Vaughan: Paintings, Drawings and Gouaches, Anthony Hepworth Fine Art, Bath
1999
Keith Vaughan: Gouaches and Drawings, Anthony Hepworth Fine Art, Bath
2000
Keith Vaughan: Paintings, Gouaches, Drawings and Lithographs, Julian Lax, London
2002
Keith Vaughan: Retrospective, Winter Fine Art and Antiques Fair, Olympia, London
2004
Keith Vaughan: Drawings, Anthony Hepworth Fine Art, Bath
2007
Keith Vaughan: Figure and Landscape, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
Keith Vaughan: A Selection of Early Work from the Collection of Peter Adam, Anthony Hepworth Fine Art, Bath
Keith Vaughan: Paintings and Drawings, Osborne Samuel Gallery, London
2009
Keith Vaughan: Drawings, Abbott and Holder, London
2010
Drawings and Sketches for Paintings 1945–1960, Austin/Desmond Fine Art, London
Keith Vaughan: Four Decades of Drawing, Gallery 27, London
2011
Keith Vaughan: Gouaches, Drawings and Prints, Osborne Samuel Gallery, London
Keith Vaughan: Works on Paper, Anthony Hepworth Fine Art, Bath
2012
Keith Vaughan, Thomas Agnew & Sons, London
Keith Vaughan: Works on Paper from the Estate of Keith Vaughan, Anthony Hepworth Fine Art, Bath
Keith Vaughan: Romanticism to Abstraction, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester[9][10][11][12][13]
Keith Vaughan, Osborne Samuel Gallery, London[14]

Collections

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Vaughan's work is held in the following permanent collections:

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Keith Vaughan 1912–1977". Tate. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Keith Vaughan". Government Art Collection. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Keith Vaughan". www.nationalgalleries.org. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Keith Vaughan - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  5. ^ a b "Search Results - V&A Explore the Collections". Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  6. ^ Laing, Olivia (24 March 2017). "Against the law: the LGBT artists branded criminals". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  7. ^ Boyd, William (8 March 2003). "The book of life". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  8. ^ "Keith Vaughan, lot 41, Sotheby's, November 11, 2009". Archived from the original on 16 June 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
  9. ^ "Robin Ironside and Keith Vaughan at Pallant House Gallery – in pictures". the Guardian. 11 March 2012. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  10. ^ Cumming, Laura (11 March 2012). "Robin Ironside: Neo-Romantic Visionary; Keith Vaughan: Romanticism to Abstraction – review". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  11. ^ "Keith Vaughan, Pallant House, Chichester". The Independent. 24 March 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  12. ^ "Robin Ironside: Neo-Romantic Visionary & Keith Vaughan: Romanticism to Abstraction: Visions of longing and exclusion". www.telegraph.co.uk. 20 March 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  13. ^ "Keith Vaughan: Romanticism to Abstraction, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester". Financial Times. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  14. ^ Hastings, Gerard (2012). Keith Vaughan: Centenary Tribute. Osborne Samuel Ltd. pp. 95–96. ISBN 978-0-9574601-0-2.
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