Image of a man : the journal of Keith Vaughan / Alex Belsey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Belsey, Alex, author.

Series:

Liverpool English texts and studies ; 77.

Liverpool English texts and studies ; 77

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Vaughan, Keith, 1912-1977.

Painters.

England.

Vaughan, Keith, 1912-1977--Diaries.

Vaughan, Keith.

Painters--England--Diaries.

Genre:

Diaries.

Physical Description:

vii, 262 pages, 12 numbered pages of plates : illustrations (partly color) ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Liverpool : Liverpool University Press, 2020.

Summary:

I want to know what I am, what I want, what I can do, what is real, what is lovely."0The 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 Vaughan's extraordinary journal, which spans thirty-eight years and sixty-one volumes to form a major literary work and a fascinating document of changing times.0From close textual analysis of the original manuscripts, this book uncovers the attitudes and arguments that shaped and reshaped Vaughan's 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.0By focussing on Vaughan's 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.

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 Vaughan's 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 Vaughan's 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 Vaughan's 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.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781789620290

1789620295

OCLC:

1137187439