2nd Oct, 2024 14:00

From the Studio: Works from 17 Artists' Estates

 
Lot 170
 

170

DAVID FREDERICK BATES (BRITISH 1929-2024)

DAVID BATES (lots 170-177)

Introduction

Bates enrolled as a student at the Royal College of Art in 1950, where he railed with his tutor Francis Bacon and also the young art critic David Sylvester about the rise of abstraction, arguing vehemently for realism and naturalism. Sylvester was disparaging of the so called 'Kitchen Sink School' to which he all too readily consigned Bates, and was especially critical of Bates' fellow student and friend John Bratby. But Bates was not to be dissuaded. He joined the Communist Party, and his strongly held socialist convictions led him later both to campaign for nuclear disarmament and to march in protest against the war in Vietnam. His subject matter in the 1950s reflected his political views and his interest in the worker in society: in London he made studies of workers removing tram lines and emblematic studies of industrial objects such as a cement mixer. Later he would celebrate the working man in his powerful portrait of Billy Griffiths, a plumber in Preston (lot 174).

At the RCA he met fellow art student June Moss, his wife to be. The couple were married in Nottingham in 1957 where Bates was teaching at Boots College (lots 171 & 177). They first moved together to Yeovil, then In 1961 they took their burgeoning family to Preston where Bates became senior lecturer in painting at Harris School of Art. They remained there until the late 1970s, by the end of which the couple were running non-vocational art courses, and Bates was directing the Preston Arts Centre, overseeing a diverse programme of music, film, art and events. In 1978 he took early retirement and he and June moved further north to live and work at Newbiggin Hall, Carlisle.

Bates was born in China, the son of a Methodist mIssionary and headmaster. But with the rise of the Kuomintang (the Chinese Nationalist Party) his parents were forced to leave, returning with their young family to England in 1931. Over the next two decades the family relocated regularly. They first lived briefly in Birmingham, then moved to Penzance, and subsequently to Nottingham before settling in Stockport in 1940, where Bates attended Stockport Polytechnic, and Bristol in 1945, where he enrolled in the West of England College of Art. In the late 1940s the family moved to Millom, South Cumbria where Bates began recording the heavy industry of the area (lot 173), before starting his studies at the Royal College of Art in London. Then, in 1951 the family upped-sticks once again and moved to Stoke-on-Trent where he drew and painted the potteries (lots 172 & 176).

DAVID FREDERICK BATES (BRITISH 1929-2024)
AT THE LIDO
oil on cardboard
17.5 x 19cm; 6 3/4 x 7 1/2in
unframed

Sold for £600


 

DAVID BATES (lots 170-177)

Introduction

Bates enrolled as a student at the Royal College of Art in 1950, where he railed with his tutor Francis Bacon and also the young art critic David Sylvester about the rise of abstraction, arguing vehemently for realism and naturalism. Sylvester was disparaging of the so called 'Kitchen Sink School' to which he all too readily consigned Bates, and was especially critical of Bates' fellow student and friend John Bratby. But Bates was not to be dissuaded. He joined the Communist Party, and his strongly held socialist convictions led him later both to campaign for nuclear disarmament and to march in protest against the war in Vietnam. His subject matter in the 1950s reflected his political views and his interest in the worker in society: in London he made studies of workers removing tram lines and emblematic studies of industrial objects such as a cement mixer. Later he would celebrate the working man in his powerful portrait of Billy Griffiths, a plumber in Preston (lot 174).

At the RCA he met fellow art student June Moss, his wife to be. The couple were married in Nottingham in 1957 where Bates was teaching at Boots College (lots 171 & 177). They first moved together to Yeovil, then In 1961 they took their burgeoning family to Preston where Bates became senior lecturer in painting at Harris School of Art. They remained there until the late 1970s, by the end of which the couple were running non-vocational art courses, and Bates was directing the Preston Arts Centre, overseeing a diverse programme of music, film, art and events. In 1978 he took early retirement and he and June moved further north to live and work at Newbiggin Hall, Carlisle.

Bates was born in China, the son of a Methodist mIssionary and headmaster. But with the rise of the Kuomintang (the Chinese Nationalist Party) his parents were forced to leave, returning with their young family to England in 1931. Over the next two decades the family relocated regularly. They first lived briefly in Birmingham, then moved to Penzance, and subsequently to Nottingham before settling in Stockport in 1940, where Bates attended Stockport Polytechnic, and Bristol in 1945, where he enrolled in the West of England College of Art. In the late 1940s the family moved to Millom, South Cumbria where Bates began recording the heavy industry of the area (lot 173), before starting his studies at the Royal College of Art in London. Then, in 1951 the family upped-sticks once again and moved to Stoke-on-Trent where he drew and painted the potteries (lots 172 & 176).

DAVID FREDERICK BATES (BRITISH 1929-2024)
AT THE LIDO
oil on cardboard
17.5 x 19cm; 6 3/4 x 7 1/2in
unframed

Auction: From the Studio: Works from 17 Artists' Estates, 2nd Oct, 2024

This one-of-a-kind auction focuses on the redisovery of 20th century artists, many of whom exhibited in leading West End galleries in their day, their works featuring in museums and art galleries around the world.  All now deceased, with many having suffered undeserved obscurity since, their inclusion in From the Studio: Works from Artists' Estates puts the spotlight firmly back on them, to reveal a range of extraordinarily talented men and women. 

Most of the artists were admired, promoted and written about by eminent 20th century art critics. Several were Jewish emigres, forced from their homelands to find their way anew in Britain and elsewhere.  Many were close friends with other leading contemporary artists, sharing studios and ideas; some taught, several at the Royal College of Art. Throughout, their efforts both individually and together chart the myriad movements and counter movements that define the dynamic 20th century modernist landscape, ranging from Impressionism to Abstraction. 

 

Viewing Times:

29th Sep 2024 12:00 - 16:00 

30th Sep 2024 10:00 - 20:00 

01st Oct 2024 10:00 - 17:00 

View all lots in this sale