John Keith Vaughan (23 August 1912 – 4 November 1977), was a British painter. His work is held in the collections of the Government Art Collection, National Galleries Scotland, National Portrait Gallery, Tate and Victoria and Albert Museum in the UK.

Early life

Born at Selsey in West Sussex, Vaughan attended Christ's Hospital school. He worked in an advertising agency until World War II, when as an intending conscientious objector he joined the St. John Ambulance; in 1941 he was conscripted into the Non-Combatant Corps.

Art career

Vaughan was self-taught as an artist. His first exhibitions took place during the war. In 1942 he was stationed at Ashton Gifford near Codford in Wiltshire, and paintings from this time include The Wall at Ashton Gifford (Manchester Art Gallery). 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 abstract. 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, he is known largely through those journals.

Educator

Vaughan worked as an art teacher at the Camberwell College of Arts, the Central School of Art and later at the Slade School.

Later life and death

He was diagnosed with cancer in 1975 and died by suicide in 1977 in London, recording his last moments in his diary as the drugs overdose took effect.

Art market

His auction record of £313,250 was set at Sotheby's, London, on 11 November 2009, for the oil on canvas Theseus and the Minotaur, previously in the collection of Richard Attenborough (who bought it in 1967).

Publications

Exhibitions

Collections

Vaughan's work is held in the following permanent collections: