Tom Coates (1941-2023)

               Tom Coates was one of the most highly regarded British artists of the past six decades, admired by his contemporaries and similarly recognised by way of numerous prestigious prizes, awards, commissions and positions throughout the course of a successful career. He studied art at Bournville College of Art (1956-59), Birmingham College of Art (1959-61) and won a scholarship to the Royal Academy Schools (1961-64). He went on to teach art at various institutions whilst pursuing painting full-time for the majority of his career.

His recognisable impressionistic style was grounded in a mastery of fundamental skills and technique. He was a prolific draughtsman as well as a plein-air painter who would rely on sketches and studies made in the moment to support his studio practice. His painting technique was very dynamic, employing all manner of strokes and touches with a variety of brushes and his fingers to record his impression of the moment. His appreciation of the aesthetics of the passing moment led him to recording numerous occasions such as concerts and sports events as well as seeking more personal impressions in quiet streets or in nature. He was a regular visitor to Venice, a city whose constantly shifting light and fleeting glimpses served as a rich source of material perfectly suited top Coates’ style and technique.

Coates was married to fellow artist Mary Jackson and the couple were closely associated with Peter Kuhfeld and Richard Pikesley, as a group of artists that started exhibiting with the New English Art Club (NEAC) together in the 1970s and shared plein-air led approaches to their art. This group of artists represent the continuation of New English Impressionism and sustains a line of artistic heritage going back to the foundation of the NEAC and the early involvement of Walter Sickert (1860-1942) and Wilson Steer (1860-1942).

The legacy of Sickert is reflected in both Coates’ stylistic sense of immediacy and his role as an organising force within the broader landscape of contemporary British painting. He was a President of the NEAC, the Royal Society of British Artists and the Pastel Society, as well as a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. His status as an establishment figure within British contemporary art was also reflected by the prizes, awards, commissions and exhibitions that punctuated his career. His painting for the 1992 Horse and Hound Royal Ascot Prize was presented to Queen Elizabeth II to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of her accession. He was commissioned by the Royal Watercolour Society to paint the ceremonial procession celebrating The Queen Mother’s ninetieth birthday in in 1990. He also completed commissions for the British military and watercolours for the then Prince Charles, and was invited by the MCC to accompany the English Cricket team on their tour of South Africa in 2000. His works continue to be popular amongst collectors still after his death in 2023 and appear in private and public collections at home and abroad.