Keith Vaughan
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Keith Vaughan
by Ida Kar
2 1/4 inch square film negative, 1960
Purchased, 1999
Photographs Collection
NPG x132967
Sitterback to top
- Keith Vaughan (1912-1977), Painter. Sitter in 16 portraits, Artist or producer of 1 portrait.
Artistback to top
- Ida Kar (1908-1974), Photographer. Artist or producer associated with 1567 portraits, Sitter in 137 portraits.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Freestone, Clare (appreciation) Wright, Karen (appreciation), Ida Kar Bohemian Photographer, 2011 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 10 March to 19 June 2011), p. 93 Read entry
Vaughan never received formal artistic training, but developed his talent while working in advertising for Unilever. His work was influenced by Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso and Gauguin, and the themes of landscape and the male nude dominated his paintings throughout his career. During the Second World War, unlike a number of his contemporaries who became war artists, Vaughan was a conscientious objector. The first exhibition of Vaughan's drawings was held in 1942 at the Reid and Lefèvre Gallery in London. During the 1940s and 1950s he taught at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, the Central School of Arts and Crafts and the Slade School of Fine Art. Predominantly a private artist, Vaughan received few public commissions, although recognition of his status in British art was shown by the commissioning of a mural for the Festival of Britain in 1951. Kar photographed Vaughan in his Hampstead flat when he was developing a looser and more abstract style, two years before his retrospective exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery.
Placesback to top
- Place made and portrayed: United Kingdom: England, London (sitter's house and studio, Hampstead, London)
Events of 1960back to top
Current affairs
Prince Andrew is born, the third child of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip.The Contraceptive Pill is introduced in England, dramatically changing the nation's approach to sex and relationships, and significantly contributing to the 1960s culture of liberation.
Art and science
Penguin books defend D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover against charges of obscenity by demonstrating that the novel was of literary merit. The 'not guilty' verdict was seen as a victory for free speech and marked the beginning if a new era of liberalism.The satirical revue Beyond the Fringe launches the careers of Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Jonathan Miller.
International
Harold Macmillan delivers his 'wind of change' speech to the South African Parliament in Cape Town, announcing Britain's decision to grant independence to many of her colonies. The speech recognised the emergence of African nationalism, and criticised the policy of Apartheid in South Africa.Comments back to top
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