Peter Yates: Paintings 1939-1982
A new exhibition at the Hatton Gallery has opened earlier this month. ‘Peter Yates: Paintings 1939-1982’ is a retrospective on the work of renowned local architect and painter Peter Yates alongside work of local artists.
Peter Yates was best known as an architect and founding partner of the North East architectural practice Ryder and Yates. But alongside his work as an architect, Peter Yates was also a fanatic painter on canvas and in mural form. Yates work varied from time spent with renowned Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier who remarked – ‘this boy can see things’ to his murals on the history of cinema at the Tyneside Cinema and abstract mythological compositions at Bevin Court, London for Berthold Lubetkin (with whom Yates had earlier worked on the aborted plans for Peterlee New Town).
The exhibition at the Hatton Gallery will showcase an underrepresented aspect of Yates’ creative career by bringing together over forty of his paintings from 1939 to 1980. Many of these works show scenes from his extensive travels – around Greece, France, Spain and Italy– which would also inspire his architectural designs, suggesting that his work as a painter and as an architect was inextricably linked.
Also exhibited alongside Yates paintings is reflective work by local artists John & Karen Topping and David Bilbrough, made in response to his architectural and artistic legacy in the North East. The exibition is free to attend and open 10th January til 9th May 2015. For more information see the Hatton Gallerys website for opening times.
Bevin Court Mural by Peter Yates for Berthold Lubetkin