# Fred Yates artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/fred-yates/
Profile generated: 2026-04-30T12:32:20.292Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1922-07-25
- Death date: 2008-07-07
- Nationality: British
- Movements: British Impressionism (associated)
- Common media: oil painting, drawing

## About Fred Yates

Fred Yates (1922–2008), born Frederick Joseph Yates in Urmston, Manchester, was a British painter celebrated for vibrant, impressionistic depictions of everyday life. Originally a schoolteacher in Bournemouth and Brighton, Yates devoted himself to painting full-time after moving to Cornwall in 1969. Inspired by L. S. Lowry, he focused on ordinary people going about their daily routines, capturing what he called "the disappearing England" with bold color and expressive, impastoed brushwork. Working chiefly en plein air, Yates developed a distinctive style that combined sharp social observation with a warm, painterly energy. Despite his reclusive temperament—he famously relocated to France in 1996 without widespread notice—his work entered numerous public collections, including Brighton and Hove Art Gallery, the University of Warwick, and Russell Coates Gallery in Bournemouth. His paintings continue to appeal to collectors drawn to post-war British figurative painting with an intimate, unsentimental eye.

## Common works and media

Oil paintings on canvas or board form the bulk of Fred Yates's output seen at auction. Common subjects include busy street scenes, market days, beachgoers, football matches, harbour views, and rural or coastal landscapes—often rendered in thick impasto with strong, saturated colour. Works on paper, including drawings, appear less frequently. Prints or reproductions are not a significant part of his documented output. Collectors most often encounter mid-sized canvases from his Cornwall and France periods.

## Market and appraisal context

Fred Yates has a well-established and liquid secondary market. Appraisily auction records index 1,033 lots with 873 carrying realised prices, spanning 2001 to April 2026. Price dispersion is wide but centred in the low-to-mid four figures (GBP): the interquartile range runs from £850 to £2,500, with a median of £1,377 and a ceiling of £13,800. Major houses—including Bonhams, Christie's, Sotheby's, Artcurial, and Dreweatts—appear frequently, joined by strong regional UK specialists such as John Nicholson's, Roseberys, Gorringes, and Chorley's. The 24 most recent lots (Dec 2025–Nov 2024) show Bonhams handling the majority of higher-value material, with standout prices of £10,000 (Polruan, Nov 2024), £9,000 (The Lane, Oct 2025), and £6,000 (Hampstead Village School, Nov 2024). Smaller works and minor subjects regularly trade between £300 and £1,500 at regional houses. Liquidity has softened in the trailing twelve months (10 priced lots versus 29 in the prior period), which may reflect normal auction-cycle variation rather than structural demand change.

## Auction-house-backed market evidence

Fred Yates has a well-established and liquid secondary market. Appraisily auction records index 1,033 lots with 873 carrying realised prices, spanning 2001 to April 2026. Price dispersion is wide but centred in the low-to-mid four figures (GBP): the interquartile range runs from £850 to £2,500, with a median of £1,377 and a ceiling of £13,800. Major houses—including Bonhams, Christie's, Sotheby's, Artcurial, and Dreweatts—appear frequently, joined by strong regional UK specialists such as John Nicholson's, Roseberys, Gorringes, and Chorley's. The 24 most recent lots (Dec 2025–Nov 2024) show Bonhams handling the majority of higher-value material, with standout prices of £10,000 (Polruan, Nov 2024), £9,000 (The Lane, Oct 2025), and £6,000 (Hampstead Village School, Nov 2024). Smaller works and minor subjects regularly trade between £300 and £1,500 at regional houses. Liquidity has softened in the trailing twelve months (10 priced lots versus 29 in the prior period), which may reflect normal auction-cycle variation rather than structural demand change.

### Appraisal notes

Appraisily would use these 873 priced auction records as a comparable-sales anchor when a customer submits a Fred Yates painting for appraisal. The appraiser would match the submitted work against recent lots by subject (street scene, harbour, landscape, floral, coastal), medium (oil on board or canvas, acrylic, watercolour), dimensions, period (Cornwall, France, or earlier), and condition—particularly important given Yates's heavy impasto technique. Provenance documentation (gallery labels, estate stamps, bills of sale from galleries such as the Guilford Gallery cited in lot 200148651) strengthens attribution confidence, especially since no catalogue raisonné exists. Signature verification (typically 'Yates' or 'Fred Yates' lower right or within the composition) and photographic comparison to signed auction records would form part of the standard attribution review. Adjustments would be made for currency (GBP dominates, with occasional CAD and EUR results), sale date, and auction-house tier.

### Valuation factors

- Subject matter: iconic Cornish harbour and coastal scenes, London street scenes, and crowded leisure compositions command the strongest prices (£3,000–£10,000+); smaller landscapes and floral works trade in the £500–£2,500 range.
- Size and format: mid-sized canvases and boards (approximately 30–60 cm on the longest side) dominate the auction record; unusually large or very small works may sit outside the central price band.
- Period: Cornwall-period works (1969–1996) are the most frequently traded and carry the deepest comparable pool; France-period works appear less often but can achieve strong prices for sought-after subjects.
- Medium: oil on board is the most common and generally highest-valued medium; acrylic on board and watercolour appear occasionally and typically trade at lower levels.
- Provenance: works with documented gallery provenance (especially from his Cornwall galleries) or estate documentation attract stronger bids and support attribution.
- Condition: Yates's thick impasto is vulnerable to flaking, craquelure, and surface abrasion; condition reports should be reviewed carefully as restoration can significantly affect value.
- Auction-house tier: Bonhams, Christie's, and Sotheby's lots tend to realise higher prices than regional houses, partly reflecting lot curation and international reach.
- Multi-lot groupings: some recent sales bundled two or three works together (e.g., lot 193173581, three oils at £2,200), which compresses per-work pricing.
- Market liquidity: the trailing twelve months saw 10 priced lots versus 29 in the prior year—fewer data points may widen appraisal uncertainty.

### Collector notes

- Fred Yates paintings trade regularly at both major London and regional UK auction houses, making the market reasonably accessible for buyers and sellers. The broad price range (£25–£13,800) means that entry-level works under £1,000 appear frequently at regional salerooms, while museum-quality Cornish and London subjects can reach five figures at Bonhams. Buyers should verify signature and provenance carefully—Yates was self-taught and reclusive, and the absence of a catalogue raisonné means attribution rests on provenance and connoisseurship. Sellers benefit from strong visual documentation and any gallery labels or correspondence. The decline in auction volume over the past year (from 29 to 10 priced lots) may present a short-term opportunity for patient buyers, but it also means fewer direct comparables for appraisal. Works appearing at Bonhams tend to receive broader exposure and may realise premiums over regional results for comparable material.

### Market caveats

- No catalogue raisonné exists for Fred Yates; attribution cannot be verified against a definitive catalogue and should be supported by provenance, signature analysis, or specialist review.
- Yates was largely self-taught and reclusive, and his paper trail is thinner than for academically trained or commercially represented artists—unsigned or poorly documented works carry elevated attribution risk.
- Auction prices are denominated in multiple currencies (primarily GBP, occasionally CAD and EUR); cross-currency comparison requires conversion and may mask regional price differences.
- Multi-lot groupings in some sales (e.g., two or three works sold as one lot) mean that the per-work realised price is lower than the lot price suggests.
- The trailing twelve-month lot count (10) is significantly lower than the prior period (29); current-year comparables are fewer, which widens appraisal confidence intervals.
- Appraisily auction signals are derived from public auction feeds and may not capture every private sale or gallery transaction.

### Market evidence sources

- undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/fred-yates/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from authority files and public sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Fred Yates, identity data is grounded in the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, VIAF, the Library of Congress Name Authority File, and Wikidata. Market observations are general and should be verified against specific auction results.

## Sources

- RKD — Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/368615
- VIAF (OCLC): https://viaf.org/viaf/83531882/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nb2009006696
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5496611
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Yates
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500185659