Fred Yates (1922 - 2008) | 20th Century British Artist

Fred Yates impasto oil paintings bring colour to the British Art Collector

Fred Yates was an English artist from Urmston, Lancashire. He is known for his heavy impasto British Naïve painting style and for his love of painting the lives of ordinary people going about their daily business.

Having lost his twin brother at Arnhem in 1944 Fred was a shy and gentle man who kept a private lifestyle, however he would paint ‘en plein air’ and was happy to chat to onlookers and admirers of his work.

After his time in the Grenadier Guards and an unhappy time working in insurance, Fred gained a place at Bournemouth Teacher Training College where he received his formal art training, this was in the late 1940’s.

Later Fred went on to teach in Devon and the south coast but this was never really where his heart lay. In 1968 he decided to quit teaching and paint full-time. Moving to Cornwall, Fred is known for his wonderful cove & harbour paintings as well as his Cornish cottage and woodland walk scenes.

His shy personality sat well with his desire for a solitary lifestyle, often living in very simply furnished houses both in the UK and France. His first solo show was at the Reynolds Gallery, Plymouth in 1976 but later grew links with Thompson’s Gallery in London and the John Martin Gallery. Whilst London Galleries were a turning point for Fred, the support from The New Street Gallery in Plymouth, Avalon Art in Marazion and Courcoux Contemporary helped grow Fred’s grass roots support from West Country collectors.

Eventually France beckoned and Fred moved several times living in old mills and village cottages. Fred would paint the local scenes and then move house to capture new light and new landscapes. His work matured, he was maybe more experimental and daring in later years, and unlike the early days, he could afford good paints and plenty of them! often applying them thickly from the tube directly to the canvas (early Northern & Cornish works are usually on board).

Fred was returning to the UK to settle in Frome in his final years but sadly passed away on that journey home (2008). He is buried in Marazion in Cornwall overlooking St Michael’s Mount.