Keith Vaughan

British artist Keith Vaughan took this photo in 1938 while 

on an excursion to Pagham Beach with a group of young men.

 

This is supposed to be from Keith Vaughan's private album

of photos made at the Highgate Men's Pond.

 

Keith Vaughan, Photography and Art

Keith Vaughan (1912-1977) was a British artist who never really accepted his homosexuality, 

but did leave behind quite a bit of homoerotic art, much of which he kept in a secret portfolio.  

I featured some of his interesting work about two years ago, and it's time for a second series.

I'm mixing the limited photography he did with some of my favorite pieces of his art.

 

At the beach

All of today's photos are said to have been made on a weekend visit Keith Vaughan made to a

 seashore area with some of his models just before World War II began.  I'm left wondering how 

this fellow and the other young men in today's photos fared in that awful conflict.

 

Two views of a standing man?

Or two men standing?  This excellent drawing gives us an outstanding view,

whether there were two men or just one.

 

Throwing?

I had to post this despite the obtrusive "sold" watermark.

 

Simple, but effective

This simple drawing looks like a lesson from a class,

but it manages to get the point across.

 

Pebble Beach

Sometimes it's hard to tell if Vaughan's photographic composition was artistic or haphazard.

This cluttered scene has the men's clothes, a basket, a towel, and what looks like a basketball, 

all in addition to the models, one of whom is sitting on the pebbles on his bare bottom.  Ouch!

 

Two men and a spear

This untitled drawing seems to show two men struggling over a spear.

 

The Beach Chair

Ummmmm . . . let's see.  What will I do with this beach chair?

A handstand, that's what I'll do with it!

And don't ask your dear blogger how he managed not to tip it over.

 

Standing Nude

Like many of Vaughan's drawings, this one has no real title,just a description,

 "Standing Nude."  I found at least a dozen variations on that one, btw.

 

Peekaboo Fog

This Vaughan photo is partially fogged, but I like the young man's expression . . .

and the peekaboo glimpse of the jewels through the towel.

 

Two Men with Staffs

This drawing shows Vaughan's tendency in some of his work to make men's heads smaller than normal.

In researching this series, that fact was barely mentioned, never mind explained.

 

Keith Vaughan Day, Part 2 - His Art

Moving on to our Friday art lesson with more of the work of Keith Vaughan.  

Jorge Lewinski took this photo of Vaughan in his studio in 1963.

This interesting Keith Vaughan piece combines photography and drawing, making a nice transition from the photography portion of today's series to the Friday art section.

This is a Keith Vaughan self study (in a mirror) from 1932.  You can see his note in the bottom left.

Vaughan was almost entirely self-taught, both in his painting and photography.

This composite may have been an unused proof for cover art 

for a posthumous book of Keith Vaughan's work.

This 1940 Keith Vaughan work was kept in a secret album until years after his 1977 death.  Way ahead of its time thematically, the date is accurate due to Vaughan's meticulous documentation.

This is Vaughan's rather homoerotic take on the Temptation of Saint Anthony, a story in which the famous monk encounters a Satyr (of all things for a supposedly Christian story!) in the desert.

Keith Vaughan Day, Part 1 - the Pagham Beach Photos

Keith Vaughan (1912-1977) was a British painter who was used his own photography as the basis for some of his art.  As a gay man who came of age in the first half of the 20th Century, Vaughan struggled with his sexuality, particularly in view of the legal climate of the time.  He wrote in his journal in 1965, "It is difficult to bear in mind that with all one's honours, distinctions, successes etc, one remains a member of the criminal class."  Terminally ill with cancer, Vaughan committed suicide in his studio while writing in that journal.  Today is Keith Vaughan day on the blog, 

and this photo of him was taken by Francis Goodman in 1947.