Ever Onward : Fred Yates

As his experiments with colour and paint developed he gave up painting outdoors other than in his garden. Paint alone became the driving force, and he returned to childhood memories of Manchester and Cornwall to provide the subjects for his canvases. Pictures like the Fowey Headland, The Blizzard and Just Somewhere were all painted in La Motte from memory. To some extent they represented a longing to return to Britain, but also, they provided quick, accessible subject matters with which he could experiment with paint.

Like never-forgotten childhood songs, Fred had learned to draw these buildings and scenes by heart. Two years before his centenary, Fred’s private collection of drawings has thrown new light onto his life as an artist and helped fill in the gaps of a seventy year journey from accomplished draughtsman to a painter of exceptional originality. 

John Martin