John Keith Vaughan (23 August 1912-4 November 1977) was a British painter. Born in Selsey, Vaughan attended Christ's Hospital school. He worked in an advertising agency until the war, when as an intending conscientious objector he joined the St John's Ambulance; in 1941 he was conscripted into the Non-Combatant Corps.

 

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 demobilization in 1946 he shared premises.

 

This publication accompanied the exhibition Keith Vaughan: Gouaches, Drawings & Prints at Osborne Samuel Gallery in 2011. With an enlightening essay by Gerard Hastings, written especially for the catalogue, it includes selected entries from the artist’s journals which help to understand his working methods. The book includes images from the exhibition’s remarkable collection of over 100 gouaches, drawings and lithographs; many which had not been seen before from private collections over the last 20 years. Vaughan’s skill as a draughtsman is self-evident in the selected works which span the whole of the artist’s career, so tragically halted in 1977.