Tom Keogh

Tom C. Keogh (1922 – 15 February 1980) was an international fashion illustrator, graphic artist, and set and costume designer. He was born in San Francisco in 1922. Keogh pursued his education at the California School of Fine Arts and the Chouinard School of Painting in Los Angeles.

In 1944, Keogh relocated to New York City to work as an illustrator for Barbara Karinska, a theatre, ballet, and film designer. That same year, in June, he married Theodora Roosevelt, née Roosevelt, the granddaughter of President Theodore Roosevelt and the daughter of Lt. Col. Archibald B. Roosevelt. The marriage did not produce any children and eventually ended in divorce, though the couple remained lifelong friends.

Following their wedding, Tom and Theodora Keogh moved to Paris. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, Keogh gained recognition as a fashion illustrator. He was featured on the cover of French Vogue’s Christmas issue in December 1947 and contributed numerous covers and interior illustrations to Vogue Paris over the subsequent four years. His fashion sketches depicted garments by designers such as Jeanne Lanvin, Nina Ricci, Jacques Griffe, Pierre Balmain, Schiaparelli, Christian Dior, Marcel Rochas, Jacques Heim, and Edward Molyneux, as well as perfumes by Elizabeth Arden and Jean Dessès. Keogh's artwork was notable for its simplified outlines and use of vibrant primary colors combined with black, creating a distinctive visual style.

He also illustrated clothing by Balenciaga in 1949, and in 1950, he produced a double illustration of Lanvin and Balmain gowns. Keogh created covers for paperback editions for Barron's Educational Series, the Algerian Society’s Dictionnaire des Femmes (1961, 1962), and James Leo Herlihy’s "The Sleep of Baby Flibertson" (1958). He contributed cover art for Penguin Books and illustrated novels authored by his wife, Theodora Keogh, including "Meg" (1951), "Street Music" (1951), "The Double Door" (1952), "The Tattooed Heart" (1952), and "The Fascinator" (1955).

In Paris, Keogh designed the annual Christmas windows for the Galeries Lafayette department store. After his divorce from Theodora, the couple maintained a friendship, but Keogh eventually returned to New York. There, he continued his work as a fashion illustrator for New York Magazine and illustrated an edition of William Butler Yeats's poems. He also designed costumes for the Berlin production of "Jesus Christ Superstar."

Keogh’s work extended into stage and film design. In 1947, he designed costumes and sets for "Le Portrait de Don Quichotte," a ballet choreographed by Aurel Miloss for Les Ballets des Champs-Élysées, which featured Jean Babilée. This company was known for its modernist and innovative performance style and operated as an independent entity from the traditional Ballet de l'Opéra. Keogh’s costume sketches for ballet often bore his signature in bold black handwriting.

Transitioning to film and theater, Keogh created costumes for the 1944 MGM production of "Kismet," starring Marlene Dietrich and Ronald Colman. He also designed costumes for Mae West’s Broadway production of "Catherine Was Great." In 1947, he designed costumes for "The Pirate," a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film starring Judy Garland and Gene Kelly.

In 1955, Leslie Caron, a former collaborator, recommended Keogh to design costumes for the ballet sequences in the 20th Century-Fox musical "Daddy Long Legs," which starred Leslie Caron and Fred Astaire. Additionally, Caron suggested him for costume design in a 1957 London production of Tennessee Williams's "Camino Real," directed by her husband Peter Hall. Keogh also designed costumes for the Berlin production of "Jesus Christ Superstar."

Keogh’s personal life included multiple affairs, notably with Marie-Laure de Noailles, a society hostess and patron of the arts, and with Nathalie Philippart, the dancer wife of Jean Babilée. His relationship with Philippart resulted in the birth of a son, Yann Babilée Keogh, who became an actor working in French film and television. He was also the father of Lou Gutmann Keogh, a director of photography in the French film industry.

Tom Keogh passed away at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York on 15 February 1980 after a long illness. His work is recognized for its significant influence within the fields of fashion illustration and theatrical design, and he is featured prominently in the book "Masters of Fashion Illustration" by David Downton.