Keyes entered the Boston Museum School in 1915 where he studied with Ralph McClellan, Leslie Thompson and Frederick A. Bosley. In 1923 he won the Paige Travelling Scholarship which enabled him to spend two years in Europe travelling and studying.
He was primarily a portrait painter, executing portraits of distinguished New Englanders and character studies, but he also painted scenes of New England whaling. He taught drawing and painting, and was director of the fine arts division of the Scott Carber (sp?) School of Art in Boston. In 1936 he married Agnes McKenna.
His prizes include the 4th W. A. Clarke Prize at the 15th Biennial Exhibition of American Painters at the Corcoran Gallery in 1937; and the Thomas R. Proctor Prize in the 113th Annual Exhibition of the NAD in 1938.
