Keith Vaughan born 23 August 1912 (d. 1977)John Keith Vaughan was an English painter.
After attending Christ's Hospital school, he worked in an advertising agency until the war, when as a conscientious objector he joined the St John's Ambulance. In 1941 he was conscripted into the Pioneer Corps. Vaughan was self-taught as an artist. His first exhibitions took place during the war.
Also 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 more abstract with time.From 1946 to 1948 he taught at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts. During this time a penniless painting student, Ramsey McClure, turned up at his doorstep, and they became partners and lived together for 30 years.
Keith Vaughan met many other gay figures from art and literature including Christopher Isherwood, (see diaries for 1947 and 1948), and E M Forster.Keith Vaughan taught at the Central School of Arts and Crafts from 1948 to 1957. He painted the Theseus mural decoration in the Festival of Britain Dome of Discovery in 1951.
From 1954 he taught at the Slade School of Fine Art, where he taught David Hockney. He also travelled extensively and was visiting resident artist at Iowa State University during 1959. In 1962 a retrospective of his work was held at Whitechapel Art Gallery with an Arts Council tour. In 1964 he received an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal College of Art. In 1965 he was awarded the CBE.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, and much of what is known about him is through those journals. He was diagnosed with cancer in 1975 and committed suicide in 1977, recording his last moments in his diary as the drugs overdose took effect.
Keith Vaughan at GLBTQ Encyclopedia