Keith Vaughan (1912-1977)

Vaughan spent the war as a non-combatant labourer in the Pioneer Corps. He was stationed first in Wiltshire, where he made the present work, then moved to Derbyshire and finally transferred to Eden Camp in Yorkshire. Despite the exhausting daily routine of road building, stacking corn and filling sandbags, a complete lack of privacy and being unable to find an adequate workspace, Vaughan nevertheless went on painting and drawing. Although he was never an official war artist, he was able to produce some remarkable wartime images, recording life in the army and the effects of the war. The War Artists' Advisory Committee purchased 12 of Vaughan's works, which are now housed in the Imperial War Museum (Under Canvas in Winter, 1942, A Barrack-room, 1942 and Echo of the Bombardment, 1942).

G.H.