17 Mar Spring Breaks Eternal for Modern & Contemporary Art

After a long cold winter of rain and floods, we don’t want to speak too soon, but Spring is probably here now.

We’ve noticed that the sophisticated ‘faux-naïf’ works by one of our favourite artists Fred Yates, seem to have encapsulated the last few months.  At Vanessa Clewes Salmon Modern and Contemporary Art we have two small jewel-like pictures painted with a heavily laden brush in rich emerald greens, one of a gushing river bursting its banks and the other of children in wellington boots playing on a river bank. These two oil paintings are the about the same size, both have French hand-carved frames and can be bought as a pair or individually.

In 1998 Yates moved from Cornwall to France and his ‘Corner of a Street in a French Village’ shows the happy bustle of people of all ages still wrapped up in winter clothes, chatting and going about their business. Then the large (53x73cms) double sided watercolour of ‘A French Country Garden’ shows the beauty of Provence in early summer.  Here Yates has painstakingly painted virtually every leaf on every shrub and tree, giving a ‘pointilliste’ effect reminiscent of Seurat. This beautiful painting has been framed so that it can be turned around to show the ‘fauve’ style wood on the reverse – two pictures for the price of one AND this has never been on the market!  Finally we also have the charming and very pretty small oil painting of a walled garden in ‘Eze-sur-Mer’, where you can almost smell the flowers and feel the heat.  All these pictures are available now or can be seen at the 20/21 International Art Fair at the Royal College of Art 15-18 May.  Do let us know if you would like a free ticket, we look forward to seeing you there.