Keith Vaughan (1912-1977) was a painter, draughtsman,
diarist and teacher. He was born at Selsey Bill, Sussex. Although Vaughan did not have
formal art training he gained a good grounding in Italian Renaissance art while at
Christ's Hospital, then worked in the Lintas advertising agency, then owned by Unilever,
from 1931-9, painting in his spare time. During World War II, he was at first a
conscientious objector, then served in the Pioneer Corps, from 1941-1946. His fluent
German enabled him to be a prisoner-of-war interpreter in Yorkshire. This was the period
when he came into contact with the Neo-Romantic painters, such as Graham Sutherland and
John Minton, which markedly affected his work. He was self-taught
as an artist, and was influenced by Minton, Craxton, Sutherland and Colquhoun.
His first one-man show of drawings was at the Lefevre Gallery in 1942, followed by
another of oil paintings in 1946. From now on he established himself as a successful
artist in Britain and abroad. He painted the Theseus mural decoration in the Festival of
Britain Dome of Discovery in 1951. Vaughan taught at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts
from1946-1948; at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, from 1948-57; then at the
Slade School of' Fine Art from 1954. He travelled extensively, being visiting
resident artist at Iowa State University, in America during 1959.
Vaughan's artistic theme was constant: the male nude in the landscape,
although in his later work the images can be highly abstracted; the palette is
unmistakeable, however. The Tate Gallery and many other public galleries hold his work. A
retrospective was held at Whitechapel Art Gallery with an Arts Council tour, in 1962.
After his death there was a memorial exhibition at Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield.
Vaughan's journals, which have been published, give a graphic insight into his often
vulnerable, obsessive and sad private life. He lived in London.
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