Background
Fred Yates was born on July 25, 1922, in Urmston, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom. He had a twin brother, who was killed at the Battle of Arnheim in September 1944.
1992
Fred Yates was born on July 25, 1922, in Urmston, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom. He had a twin brother, who was killed at the Battle of Arnheim in September 1944.
Fred's career as an insurance clerk was cut short by the outbreak of war and he served in the Grenadier Guards until 1945 when he returned to Manchester as a painter and decorator. Untutored, but with tremendous self-discipline, Fred began to paint pictures of the rich industrial architecture of Manchester, the red brick terraces and the commotion and humour of street life – a theme that the artist is still concerned with, even in his recent paintings. He subsequently enrolled on a teacher training course at Bournemouth College of Art and in 1950 won a travelling scholarship to Rome and Florence.
Fred taught for twenty years battling continuously against artistic sophistication, for him, beauty resided in simplicity and a child’s mind. In 1969 Fred gave up teaching and moved to Cornwall to enable him to devote all his energy to painting. While he still painted scenes, remembered from his childhood in Manchester, he also worked on sunnier landscapes, new faces and activities that surrounded him. A Fred Yates Society has been established to assist in preserving and promoting his work.
Fred Yates gained national attention after presenting his work at the 1985 exhibition "St Ives 1939 – 64" at the Tate Gallery in London. His paintings are included in many private and public collections including Brighton and Hove Art Gallery, Liverpool University, the University of Warwick, Torquay Art Gallery and Russell Coates Gallery Bournemouth.
My Very Own Street, Sablet
Fred Yates by Fred Yates (Self-Portrait)
At the Harbour
Moored Boats, Penzance
Brighton Pier
River landscape
On the Promenade
Porthmeor Beach, St. Ives
Lytham St Anne's
On the Promenade
Swimming in the River
Saturday Afternoon
A Stroll in Brighton
John
The Beach
1992Worthing Pier
Quotations: "…I have eaten at my lovely restaurant. I arrived at 1.30 pm, did two lovely paintings on canvas, walked back to the Hotel Meurice, changed, walked two thirds of a kilometre to Le Restaurant au Port de Nice. Ate, drank, met friends, drank again, and here I am – a lifetime in a day. Isn’t it wonderful…my dear old Dad never knew a day like I experience."
