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. He was self-taught as an artist. His first exhibitions took place during the war.
Also during the war he formed friendships with the painters Graham Sutherland and John Minton, with whom after demobilization 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.
He worked as an art teacher at the Camberwell College of Arts, the Central School of Art and later at the Slade School.
He is also known for his journals, selections from which were published in 1966 and more extensively in 1989, after his death.
He committed suicide in 1977.
Literature
* ''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 0719547326.
* ''Keith Vaughan, His Life and Work'', Malcolm Yorke, 1990, published in London by Constable, 288 pages, ISBN 0094697809 (Hardback)
External links
* www.keith-vaughan.co.uk* Knitting Circle: Keigh Vaughan
* Modern British Artists: Vaughan
Biography courtesy of the brilliant Wikipedia!
