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ABSTRACT
This article reveals how the wartime journal of British artist Keith Vaughan (1912–1977) was instrumental in his establishment of an outsider perspective from which he would sketch and paint his chosen subject: the male body. Young, opinionated, literate and homosexual, Vaughan often found his social and sexual life as a conscientious objector difficult and dispiriting. Writing about his observations of strangers and encounters with comrades, Vaughan created his persona of a frustrated romantic looking on longingly at a world that he felt would never accept him. Filtering his experiences through an elegiac lens produced frequently melodramatic yet undeniably poignant life-writing and his visual practice followed suit. His sketches of other men, whether alone or in groups, in barracks or bathing, became equally fixated on ideas of spectatorship and romanticized detachment. This article considers his representations of imposed distance, his belief in the power of the artist’s vision and his troubled relationship with the reciprocated gaze. Through comparative analysis of his wartime journal and his burgeoning visual practice – including wartime sketches and ink drawings – this article will argue that Vaughan’s journal was central to the formation of his outsider perspective as an aspiring visual artist.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 The following notes apply wherever this study quotes directly from the original journal manuscripts: All references to the original journal appear in parentheses in the following format: (DD.MM.YY; Journal volume, conjectural page number/page range). If a subsequent quote is from the same journal entry as the quote preceding it, then only the page number/page range will be given in parentheses. If a subsequent quote is from the same page/page range of the same journal entry, then there will be no additional reference in parentheses. If a volume of the journal is held in more than one folder in Tate’s archive, then the folder number will appear after the journal number (e.g. J3.2 indicates folder 2 of Journal 3). My page numbering for volumes of the journal held in more than one folder is continuous and therefore not reset when switching to the next folder. Please note that all page numbers are conjectural as Vaughan did not number the pages of his journal. I have calculated page numbers myself in order to assist as best as possible future readers of Vaughan’s original journal.
2 Dates as catalogued by Tate.
3 Untitled ink sketch held at Tate Archive, London, Catalogue ref: TGA9013/1/23. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/archive/tga-9013-1-23/vaughan-drawing-of-three-men-on-lunch-break.
4 Untitled sketch held at Tate Archive, London, Catalogue ref: TGA9013/1/33. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/archive/tga-9013-1-33/vaughan-drawing-of-a-group-of-men-sat-in-a-cabin.
5 Untitled ink sketches held at Tate Archive, London, Catalogue ref: TGA9013/1/30. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/archive/tga-9013-1-30/vaughan-drawing-of-men-playing-with-a-ball-on-a-beach & TGA9013/1/31.
6 This conclusion is largely made on the basis of an asterisked note made by Vaughan sometime after the journal entry dated 20 February 1940 in Journal vol. 2, 84 (this note has been made in different ink from the original journal entry and in a later variant of Vaughan’s handwriting). The asterisk marks the word ‘Steven’ on the first line of the entry, with the corresponding note reading ‘Ted Stephenson (Steve/Steven)’. Despite the difference in spelling between the ‘Stephen’ referred to in the original journal and the ‘Steve/Steven’ of the later note, we can appreciate this slight variant to represent one last subtle layer of codification on Vaughan’s part.
7 Sketchbook titled ‘SHERE 1940: Landscape – Pubs, interiors, houses, trees’, copy held at Tate Archive, London, Catalogue ref: TGA20111/29.
8 Untitled ink sketch (catalogued by Tate as 1941–1942), held at Tate Archive, London, Catalogue ref: TGA9013/1/26. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/archive/tga-9013-1-26/vaughan-drawing-of-men-working-on-nissen-huts.
9 This journal entry continues over from the end of J9 to the opening pages of J10.
10 ‘Untitled drawing of two men in caps in conversation’ (catalogued as 1939–1945), held at Tate Archive, London, Catalogue ref: TGA9013/1/11. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/archive/tga-9013-1-11/vaughan-drawing-of-two-men-in-caps-in-conversation.
11 Untitled sketch (dated by artist 31 January 1942), held at Tate Archive, London, Catalogue ref: TGA9013/1/35. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/archive/tga-9013-1-35/vaughan-portrait-of-a-young-man-in-profile.
12 Untitled self-portrait (catalogued by Tate as 1941–1942), held at Tate Archive, London, Catalogue ref: TGA9013/1/29. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/archive/tga-9013-1-29/vaughan-self-portrait4.
13 Two sketches of men felling trees (catalogued by Tate as 1941), held at Tate Archive, London, Catalogue ref: TGA9013/1/20 & TGA9013/1/21. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/archive/tga-9013-1-21/vaughan-drawing-of-two-men-working-on-a-felled-tree.
14 Untitled pencil sketch (catalogued by Tate as 1941–1942), held at Tate Archive, London, Catalogue ref: TGA9013/1/13. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/archive/tga-9013-1-13/vaughan-drawing-of-two-men-washing.
15 Series titled ‘Barrack Room’ (1942), held at Tate Archive, London, Catalogue ref: TGA200817/3/1/12/3-5.
16 Held at Tate Archive, London, Catalogue ref: TGA200817/3/1/12/7.