KEITH VAUGHAN (1912-1977)

During the late 1940s and early 1950s Vaughan’s reputation crystallised and drawing became an essential ingredient in his professional creative life. For example, while working at the Central School of Art (1948-58) he made life-drawings to assist in his teaching process; he prepared drawings for magazines and illustrated several books; he also completed a number of highly finished presentation drawings that he called his ‘table drawings.’ Whenever painting proved difficult, Vaughan turned to drawing – and his subject, more often than not, was the male nude.

The drawings of the late 1940s and early 1950s are among some of Vaughan’s finest. Pared down to describe the essential outlines and boundaries of the human form, they also explain how the body is articulated and the manner in which it communicates both the mood and character of the subject. Contours and profiles are invested with volume while simultaneously retaining the planar integrity of the page. Vaughan’s studio studies of models, most commonly John McGuinness (probably the model here), were then used as visual material to fuel the imagery he used in his paintings.

We are grateful to Gerard Hastings, whose new book Awkward Artefacts: The ‘Erotic Fantasies’ of Keith Vaughan is published by Pagham Press in association with the Keith Vaughan Society, for preparing this catalogue entry.