Peter Yates (1920-1982), was one of the founders of the innovative partnership Ryder and Yates, which brought modern architecture to the North East of England in the post-war period. As a painter, Yates demonstrated a particularly English sense of colour in the vibrant landscapes throughout his life.
 
Margaret Howell has now hand-selected some of these quintessentially British paintings for an exhibition at her store. “One of the pleasures in reading Rutter Carroll’s, Ryder and Yates was discovering Peter Yates’s paintings," she explains. "I was more than happy when the opportunity came to mount a personal selection of his work. One thinks of Nash and Bawden; Peter Yates shares something of their graphic strength, eye for detail, and sheer fondness for what he finds in the British landscape. The exhibition has been organised with the assistance of the Yates Family and Catherine Croft of The 20th Century Society."

This exhibition highlights Peter Yates's exceptional skill as an artist and shows a selection of his work in a variety of media, whereby the chosen paintings reflect Yates’s travels around Britain and include both rural and urban landscapes. Berthold Lubetkin said of the paintings: "How can one exercise a value judgement when one is confronted with magic? Yet it is here for us to see."  "Magic" also came to the artist Kenneth Rowntree's mind when he wrote of Yates's paintings, drawing attention to "the economy, the paring away of inessentials, with poetry never very far away, and on occasions a whiff of magic".  

Peter Yates at Margaret Howell, 34 Wigmore Street, London – April 15 to May 10, 2010