Fred Yates – Artwork and Bio of the British Painter

Fred Yates was a reclusive painter known for his Plein-air paintings of the French and English landscapes. Fred was born in Urmston, Lancashire, on 25 July 1922. He served in World War II alongside his twin brother, who was later declared missing in action. After losing his twin brother in World War II, Fred quit his insurance clerk work and decided to become an artist.

Yates received his first formal education in drawing, painting, and printmaking at the Bournemouth Teacher Training College. Yates taught for 20 years after graduation, but he never enjoyed the profession due to his shy nature. Instead, he taught himself to paint to distract himself from his reality. In 1968, Yates quit teaching and moved to Cornwall to become a full-time painter, where he painted his early works of rocky beaches and village scenes using household paints.

He had his first London exhibition with Thompson’s Gallery in 1992. Yates later moved to France and continued painting. Towards the end of his life, Fred Yates returned to England, where he died of a heart attack at the University College Hospital in 2008.

What is Fred Yates Known For?

Yates once mentioned that he “felt closest to the man in the street and aimed to please him with his works. This reflects in his paintings, as Yates is famously known for his colorful landscapes and characters created from loose brushwork and child-like abstractions.

Fred Yates is also known and recognized for his paintings of village sceneries in France and England, producing beautiful artworks with simplicity and a child’s mind, a firmly held principle of his.

Who was Fred Yates Influenced By?

Fred Yates was influenced by L.S. Lowry, the Manchester painter who inspired him to paint the lives of ordinary people. In addition, Yates once competed against L.S Lowry in the painting of Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club and came second.

What Art Movement is Fred Yates Associated With?

Fred Yates is associated with the Naïve art movement, which is also known as the Primitivism art movement when it is adopted by a trained artist like Yates.