FRED YATES | THE 'HAPPY' LOWRY

Chorley's delighted to offer paintings by the “Happy Lowry”

This Spring, Chorley’s will offer nine oil paintings by the celebrated Modern British artist Fred Yates (1922-2008). Often referred to as the “Happy Lowry”, Yates painted bold, expressive oils that depict a variety of subjects. He is noted for his vividly comic vignettes of everyday life in Cornwall and other areas of the South West, which will form the bedrock of the collection offered by Chorley’s

Yates was born in Lancashire and began his working life unassumingly, as an insurance clerk, before joining the Grenadier Guards at the outbreak of World War II. His twin brother enrolled in the armed forces in the same period but went missing in action. The loss of his brother had a significant effect on Yates that would set a precedent for his later career, instilling in him a sense of isolation that led to his somewhat itinerant life as an artist. After his initial post-war artistic training, Yates moved first to Devon and the south coast, then to Cornwall, and finally to France, rarely settling in the same accommodation for very long.

Despite his solitary nature, Yates was strongly influenced by Lowry and the sense of empathy and humour for which the Northern artist is celebrated, remarking that it is ‘the man on the street’ with whom he wanted to ‘make friends’ and ‘to please and enchant by the nature of my work’. This work comprises everything from joyfully bucolic Expressionistic landscapes to intimate domestic scenes unified by a bold and original vision conveyed through thick impasto brushstrokes and assertive primary colours.

Yates perhaps most recalls Lowry in his bustling town scenes, which are at times panoramic and at others more intimate in their focus on a single individual; Chorley’s will offer five such scenes, along with an intriguing depiction of the interior of a factory and two impasto landscapes from later in the artist’s career. Estimates start temptingly at £600-800, rising to £2,000-3,000 for a standout work depicting a busy town centre, and with many other striking works pitched in between.