Kay Vaughan

Artist of 5 portraits
Born in Lambeth, London, into a modest working class family (her father was a housepainter) Vaughan became a photographer’s assistant to Claude Harris. In 1923 she began her collaboration with Pearl Freeman (of a similar age and background from the East End of London) who also worked at Claude Harris. The pair rented premises at 44a Dover Street. In 1933 the formal collaboration ended when Freeman set up her own studio. Vaughan continued to work from Dover Street until her studio was obliterated in the blitz of 1941, which ended her professional photographic career. Vaughan’s work comprised studio portraits, photographs of weddings and other major events in the lives of the rich and well-connected for society magazines such as The Bystander, The Tatler and The Sketch. Many prominent authors, playwrights, composers, artists, performers and other notable people of the interwar years were photographed, often on agency commission to promote their latest book, play or appearance.