Spencer Alley: Keith Vaughan (1912-1977) - Figures (Nineteen Forties)

Saturday, August 3, 2019

Keith Vaughan (1912-1977) - Figures (Nineteen Forties)

Keith Vaughan
The Garden at Ashton Gifford
1942
ink, crayon and gouache on paper
Ingram Collection, London

Keith Vaughan
Climbing Figures
1946
oil on panel
Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (England)

Keith Vaughan
Seated Bathers on the Shore
1945
ink, charcoal, crayon and gouache on paper
private collection

Keith Vaughan
Two Figures
1946-47
ink and wash on paper
Jerwood Collection, London

A Momentary Longing to Hear Sad Advice from One Long Dead

Who was my teacher at Harvard. Did not wear overcoat
Saying to me as we walked across the Yard
Cold brittle autumn is you should be wearing overcoat. I said
You are not wearing overcoat. He said,
You should do as I say not do as I do.
Just how American it was and how late Forties it was
Delmore, but not I, was probably aware. He quoted Finnegans Wake to me
In his New York apartment sitting on chair
Table directly in front of him. There did he write? I am wondering.
Look at this photograph said of his mother and father.
Coney Island. Do they look happy? He couldn't figure it out.
Believed Pogo to be at the limits of our culture.
Pogo. Walt Kelly must have read Joyce Delmore said.
Why don't you ask him?
Why don't you ask Walt Kelly if he read Finnegans Wake or not.
Your parents don't look happy but it is just a photograph.
Maybe they felt awkward posting for photographs.
Maybe it is just a bad photograph. Delmore is not listening.
I want to hear him tell me something sad but however true.
Delmore in his tomb is sitting. People say yes everyone is dying
But here read this happy book on the subject. Not Delmore. Not that rueful man.

– Kenneth Koch (2002)