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Lost Photos of Nude Men on the Beach from the 1930s

15/11/2022 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Keith Vaughan is an artist who is often overlooked, but when you view his work, and in particular ‘Nude Men on the Beach’ you will be hooked.

Nude Men on the BeachMuch is known about the British painter Keith Vaughan thanks to his extensive journals, written between 1939 and his death in 1977, and described as some of “the greatest confessional writing of the 20th-century”. They document the trials he faced as a gay artist whose principal focus was the male nude, rendered first in an erotic, Neo-Romantic style, and later an increasingly abstracted one.

GALLERY

Keith Vaughan male nude erotica 1930s vintageNude Men on the Beach - Keith Vaughan male nude erotica 1930s vintageKeith Vaughan male nude erotica 1930s vintageKeith Vaughan male nude erotica 1930s vintage

Keith Vaughan

Now further light has been shed on Vaughan’s oeuvre thanks to the rediscovery of a collection of lost photographs from Nude Men on the Beach, taken by the self-taught artist during covert visits to Pagham Beach in West Sussex in the 1930s, with a coterie of male friends. “When Vaughan decided to become a fine artist in 1938, he began to distil a visual language through photography, based on the male figure,” explains David Archer, curator of a new exhibition of the images in London. “After the war, he used the photographs to develop his unique drawing style, with compositional elements recurring in his gouaches and oil paintings until the mid-50s.”

The pictures depict Vaughan’s lithe pals cavorting on the beach, nude or semi-nude, performing handstands and drinking from shells. They brilliantly capture the abundant joy of their protagonists, temporarily freed from the shackles of societal prejudice, while their technical skill aligns Vaughan with the likes of Man Ray and László Moholy-Nagy. “It’s as if he could disappear from his subjects’ presence; he was an observer but never a ringleader,” notes Archer. “Like all true works of art, these images transcend time.”

Keith Vaughan: On Pagham Beach is at Austin Desmond Gallery until 8 December, 2017.

  • Wikipedia – Keith Vaughan
  • Artnet – Keith
  • The Art of Persuasion

Filed Under: Community Journalist Tagged With: 1930s, artist, Beach, exhibition, Keith Vaughan, men, Nude., Pagham Beach, West Susses

Family Matters

27/01/2019 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Frans Gertenback, is an artist living in Ballyclare. His exhibition ‘Family Matters’ consists of video installations, portraits and a large number of abstract works.

The underlying concept is one of the influence of family on your life. This is both the immediate family (mother, father, brother,sister grandparents) and the extended family which we all have.

The video installations are short looped items and are thought provoking in terms of place, time and styles. The portraits cover early life and later life, whilst the abstract paintings are just that abstract; it is up to each individual to interpret these as they will.

The exhibition runs from the 3rd to 31st January 2019 at the Artledera Studio, 43 Rosemary Street, Belfast.

I came away from the exhibition with little backward thought, unfortunately for me. I did not find the xhibition thought provoking as intended; but as with all exhibitions, this is my review and opinion, and I would suggest you go along, make time for the ‘Family Matters’ exhibition and enjoy the body of work.

For me one item of the exhibition stood out, and that was a portrait of a man shown below.

Further Reading:

  1. Artcetera Facebook
  2. Belfast Art Map

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: art review, artist, emotions, Family Matters, Frans Gertenback, Northern Ireland

2016 Will be the Year of Robert Mapplethorpe

06/12/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

OUT dot com logo

BY JERRY PORTWOOD
DECEMBER 04 2015 10:55 AM EST
Robert_Mapplethorpe,_Self-portrait,_1980 (Wikipedia)

Self-Portrait, 1980, Robert Mapplethorpe. Photograph from Wikipedia

It’s been more than 25 years since Senator Jesse Helms and others denounced the controversial photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe due to their frank depictions of nudity, sexuality and fetishism, igniting a culture war, the photographer continues to be a touchstone and his work highly collectible. Now it looks like next spring will be a major turning point in Mapplethorpe’s artistic reputation.
Deputing April 2016 on HBO, Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures is a the first feature-length documentary about the artist since his death and is from acclaimed filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Robert Barbato (Inside Deep Throat; HBO’s Wishful Drinking, and The Eyes of Tammy Faye), who are best known as the World of Wonder impresarios, and their breakout hit, RuPaul’s Drag Race.
This coincides with a joint retrospective organized by the Getty Museum and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, titled Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Medium, that both open in March 2016. The concurrent exhibitions about the late, provocative portrait photographer will delve into Mapplethorpe’s disciplined studio practice, figure studies, and legacy, as well as focus on his methods, sources, and creative processes.
More than 300 mostly black-and-white portraits, still lifes and nudes will be on display between the two museums. They jointly acquired most of the art and archives from the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation in 2011, including private correspondence, books, and ephemera from the late artist’s estate. In addition, LACMA will be featuring 30 complementary works from other artists as part ofPhysical: Sex and the Body in the 1980s. A new book, Thrill of the Chase: The Wagstaff Collection of Photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum, presents photographs from the extraordinary collection of Sam Wagstaff, Mapplethorpe’s mentor and lover, who was also the subject a biography last year.
The exhibition will then travel to three international venues—including the Musee des Beaux-Arts de Montreal and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney—after its L.A. run
 

Filed Under: History Tagged With: artist, exhibition, photographer, Robert Mapplethorpe

Apply for GFEST

17/04/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
{Reprinted from GayTimes)

Are you an artist? Apply for GFEST

You could be the next star in the making

London’s annual gay arts fest, Gaywise FESTival, kicks off in November and they’re looking for talented entrants who fancy themselves a bit of recognition.

Organised by arts charity Wise Thoughts, the festival accepts expression of interests from LGBTQI filmmakers, artists and performers in three main categories: Films (shorts and features), Visual Arts and Performances.
Niranhan Kamatkar, director of GFEST, said: “This year we will work with venues that will actively promote the profile of these artists. The festival has been offering an excellent platform for LGBT films and artworks over the last 8 years now.”
Working alongside these established names, you could gain invaluable experience as GFEST is internationally recognised as a high profile event by media and other festivals.
Visual artist and trustee of Wise Thoughts, Dr Trevor Wood MBE, said: “This has helped many new and aspiring artists with their careers. Taking part in GFEST can help promote your work within the mainstream arts industry in London and wider afield.”
More info on the festival and how you can get involved can be found here.
Words Rebecca Peel, @BeccaPeel

Filed Under: Anti-Bullying & Homophobia Tagged With: art, artist, GFEST, movie maker, musician

Belfast artist Jane Moore tells Una Brankin about her unique art project, and telling her parents that she was gay

16/12/2014 By David McFarlane Leave a Comment

Reprinted from Belfast Telegraph an article on Jane Moore, artist, who has some lovely pieces for sale, and who just happens to be gay as well. 01 DECEMBER 2014

Belfast artist Jane Moore: ‘I couldn’t give up chocolate for a whole year,

but I knew I could do a sketch every single day’


Within 24 hours of the death of screen legend Lauren Bacall (89) earlier this year, her famous sultry gaze and perfect bone structure were captured beautifully by Belfast-born Jane Moore.
The drawing was part of the illustrator’s ambitious year-long Sketch a Day project, and one of the highlights of the 365 artworks she was planning to exhibit in January.
But she has been left devastated by the theft of the sketch and six others of hers from the Winter Pride Art Awards, a gay event in London celebrating diversity and sexuality. The deeply personal selection was snatched in the early hours of the morning two weekends ago – along with a memorial print by another artist – by three men posing as volunteers, who removed the artwork at around 2-3am when the only people left at the end of the evening were the curating team, security and bar staff.
“They were brazen – the staff thought they were part of the arts team,” says Jane (32). “I got a call from the curator the next morning. I left feeling sick and gutted. It’s not so much about the money, but one of the pieces was a self-portrait I spent a lot of time on. I’m not a big fan of self- portraits in general, so it was a big deal to me. It took four hours of the little time I’d set aside each day to work on this project. I don’t want to prosecute anyone; I just want them back.”
Insurance will cover the eight originals – valued at £6,000 – but Jane’s seven are the equivalent of a week’s gap in her 365 day project, spanning the whole of 2013. The art college graduate began the creative odyssey initially as a new year’s resolution.
“I could never stick to going to the gym or giving up chocolate so I picked something I knew I’d stick to every day and definitely do it,” she says, speaking at her parents’ home in Ballygowan, Co Down. “I wanted to do it for a while but I knew it would take dedication and time. It was difficult to be motivated some days, like when I was feeling poorly, so I’d pick a topic I could sketch pretty quickly, like a figure drawing. Sometimes if I’m busy in work I can only spare 30 or 40 minutes but I always managed to fit it in.”
The original self-portrait depicts the artist in a simple black T-shirt, tattooed arms raised, with her platinum-blonde hair falling loose on her shoulders (she’s growing out the pudding-bowl fringe look, recently sported by Beyonce). Her pretty features are presented expertly in monotone, which – while striking – misses out on the vivid blue of her wide-set eyes. She enhances them with lots of black eyeliner, making the cerulean irises pop out against her fair complexion and even paler hair, which is shaven at the back.
“The self-portrait was the one I was most proud of,” she admits. “I did it from a series of photos a friend took; I used a mirror as well. Looking at a photo, only, changes your perception of yourself because of the 2D. I had a big problem with the eyes – they’re the feature which stands out. Once you capture the essence of a person, the rest falls into place pretty easily.”
Currently in talks with exhibition venues in Belfast, Jane is back home from her base in London and a recent three-month stint in Barcelona to stay in the scenic Ballygowan countryside with her parents, James, a structural technician, and Sarah, a window display artist. It’s a chance to catch up with younger sister Rebecca (30), a paediatrician, and her sister’s children Michael (5) andNicole (2).
Openly gay, Auntie Jane came out of the closet long before her niece and nephew were born, just as she was moving to London to work after graduating 10 years ago. “My parents were shocked – I’ve always been quite feminine,” she laughs. “But they and my friends have been really supportive. I knew I was gay by my late teens. It was harder in Northern Ireland when I was younger but attitudes are changing now. It’s still not as open here as in London; there is greater acceptance there, you can be who you are.”
So what does she think of the continued hush-up of homosexuality in A-list circles, both in the UK and Hollywood?
“Well, the actress Ellen Page coming out recently, in her late 20s, is very encouraging. The younger generation is not ashamed of their sexuality.”
Androgynous images feature prominently in Jane’s work, although she doesn’t consider lesbianism as a major theme in it. She’s currently single and wouldn’t rule out having children in the future, but art comes first at the moment.
She excelled in the subject at Grosvenor Grammar School, and went on to study as the Creative College of Arts Art in Surrey after her foundation degree with the University of Ulster’s art college in Belfast.
Her talent and qualifications led to jobs in fashion promotion and illustration, magazine work and story-board commissions for production companies and theatre directors.
Seemingly inexhaustible, she now works for both private and corporate clients, as well as continuing her now annual Sketch A Day project.
Her commitments don’t hinder her free-spirited lifestyle, however, which allows her to travel.
Goya and Andy Warhol are influences on her work, as are fashion illustrators Rene Gruau, the inspiration for a recent John Galliano couture collection for Dior, and the legendary French image-maker Georges Barbier: “Our styles are similar in that my artwork can be quite decorative and I like to use muted colours.”
While prolific, it’s doubtful whether these great artists managed a drawing per day. Where does she get the inspiration for such a mammoth task?
“I do a lot of portraits, mostly of friends, and I like drawing animals in human clothing,” she giggles. “I draw 24/7 – I never run out of inspiration. I keep them all in a note-book I carry about with me. It’s full of fashion and figure pieces too.
“I’m continuing the project into next year, with more colour pastels, oil paint, water colours. My favourite is oil but it’s slower. Watercolour’s quicker and dries faster.”
Impressively, Jane is also working on illustrations for a children’s book. She came up with a plot and outline, while a friend is writing the narrative. They hope to publish next year. In the meantime, she’s exhibiting some of her work in a trendy Notting Hill gallery and running a Kickstarter Crowdfunding campaign, until December 11, as a means to fund her huge Sketch A Day exhibition in London and Belfast, and to self-publish her Sketch A Day book.
“I’ve poured my heart into this project and to get it out there, I’m selling the framed original drawings, prints, book and other merchandise,” she concludes.
“After that I’m just looking forward to spending Christmas with my family. Ballygowan’s beautiful and it will always be home.”
To purchase from Jane Moore’s Sketch A Day collection, click here.

Filed Under: History Tagged With: artist, day, jane moore, project, sketch

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