Image of a Man The Journal of Keith Vaughan
, by Belsey, Alex
- ISBN: 9781802078244 | 180207824X
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 3/1/2023
'I want to know what I am, what I want, what I can do, what is real, what is lovely.'
The post-war British artist Keith Vaughan (1912-77) was not only a supremely accomplished painter; he was an impassioned, eloquent writer. Image of a Man is the first book to provide a comprehensive critical reading of Vaughans extraordinary journal, which spans thirty-eight years and sixty-one volumes to form a major literary work and a fascinating document of changing times.
From close textual analysis of the original manuscripts, this book uncovers the attitudes and arguments that shaped and reshaped Vaughans identity as a man and as an artist. It reveals a continual process of self-construction through journal-writing, undertaken to navigate the difficulties of conscientious objection, the complications of desire as a gay man, and the challenges of making meaningful art.
By focussing on Vaughans journal-writing in the context of its many influences and its centrality to his art practice, Image of a Man offers not only a compelling new critical biography of a significant yet underappreciated artist, but also a sustained argument on the constructed nature of the artist persona in early and mid-twentieth-century culture and the opportunities afforded by journal and diary forms to make such constructions possible.
The post-war British artist Keith Vaughan (1912-77) was not only a supremely accomplished painter; he was an impassioned, eloquent writer. Image of a Man is the first book to provide a comprehensive critical reading of Vaughans extraordinary journal, which spans thirty-eight years and sixty-one volumes to form a major literary work and a fascinating document of changing times.
From close textual analysis of the original manuscripts, this book uncovers the attitudes and arguments that shaped and reshaped Vaughans identity as a man and as an artist. It reveals a continual process of self-construction through journal-writing, undertaken to navigate the difficulties of conscientious objection, the complications of desire as a gay man, and the challenges of making meaningful art.
By focussing on Vaughans journal-writing in the context of its many influences and its centrality to his art practice, Image of a Man offers not only a compelling new critical biography of a significant yet underappreciated artist, but also a sustained argument on the constructed nature of the artist persona in early and mid-twentieth-century culture and the opportunities afforded by journal and diary forms to make such constructions possible.
Please wait while the item is added to your bag...
