Yankel Feather
Encyclopedia
Yankel Feather, painter (born Liverpool 21 June 1920; died 18 April 2009) member of Liverpool Academy of Arts
and Newlyn Society of Artists. Paintings by Yankel Feather are in the public collections of the Royal Pavilion and the Walker Gallery. His work is publicly and privately collected. An expressionist painter. Early works are more formal in later works Yankel's syle becomes more expressive and was said to have changed as he began painting from memory. His subject matter continued to include still life painting and began to flourish in the more populated scenes of Liverpool dance halls or seascapes of his St Ives period. Today the Yankel Feather estate is handled by his partner and primary dealers GX Gallery in London.
between 1937 and the outbreak of the Second World War
.
, leading to spells in Glasgow, London and Bournemouth.
In his early life he was continuously struggling as he needed to earn a living and also to find time for his passion to become an artist. His first solo exhibition was at Gibbs Book Shop in Manchester in 1940. He became friends with Terry Frost
in 1947. Frost later recalled: "I owe a lot to Yankel Feather, one of my first painter critics in 1947. I soon realised he was a bit of a Van Gogh person, full of talent, bursting with a trapped enthusiasm, supported by a genuine love of art and art history. I first saw his work when the Hannover Gallery had offered him a show. Wow! This was around 1948 and he was painting thickly, and with love, still lives of flowers."
“Full of talent, bursting with a trapped enthusiasm, supported by a genuine love of art and art history” - Sir Terry Frost ”
He acquired his artistic practice though observations of the great masters, such as Velasquez, Rembrandt and Degas in public galleries in Liverpool
and London
. He remembered their techniques and applied them in his art throughout his career.
He took studios at Park Walk in Chelsea in the Forties and became part of the artistic bohemian fringe whilst working as a Telephone Operator.
Feather exhibited at the renowned Helen Lessore's Beaux Arts Gallery in London during the 1950s.
, The Beatles, Cilla Black, Adrian Henri, Arthur Ballard, George Jardine
and many many more. While in Liverpool he exhibited with the Liverpool Academy of Art alongside Sam Walsh
, Maurice Cockrill
, Adrian Henri
, Nicolas Horsfield and Mike Lawson. He attended various art schools.
Whilst his works reminds us of Renoir
, Degas and Lowry
, they are very much his own style - strong, with lightness of brushstrokes over strong linear form with lots of movement.
Feather's Liverpool roots influence him their shadow both socially and professionally. Inspired by Lowry, whom he met at the Walker Art Gallery and visited at Mottram during the mid-1960s, Feather contrived from memory evocations of his working class roots. His later pictures of boys playing football on dockside waste land or of the vast edifices on the Mersey front, shared the documentary nostalgia of Lowry's mills and terraced streets. Feather also showed with perverse pride a coveted but damaged painting slashed by an irate John Lennon
, whom Feather, an acquaintance of Brian Epstein
, had evicted from The Basement. Another acquaintance, Peter Brown, an employee of the Beatles' organisation Apple, invited Feather into Savile Row premises in 1970 where he saw the break-up of the Beatles at first hand. Ringo Starr was one of many notable Liverpudlian owners of Feather's exuberant, poetic work.
in 1967 and after practicing ten years as an antiques dealer he was able to retire to Cornwall
in 197. Yankel moved to Cornwall
where he became a life long friend of the abstract artist Sir Terry Frost. It was here that he started to come to public notice and gain recognition for the quality of his work.
He lived near St Just
in south-west Cornwall for 20 years, painting prolifically and exhibiting at the Salthouse
and New Millennium Galleries in St Ives
during the 1980s and 1990s.
in Brighton
. He could express his sexuality in a series of simplified linear paintings which are show an anonymous and austere outline which cannot be seen in any other of his paintings. Today, Feather is listed in the directory of Modern British Painters and his work is enjoyed by many collectors, including Ringo Starr
and Cilla Black
. But, the artist himself reflected: “I am painting the best paintings of my life right now. That is the most important thing for me, more so than who buys the work”.
Inspired by the atmosphere in the well-known Basement Club in Liverpool (set up by Feather in 1958) he has painted every aspect of dance: from the Twist during the II World War to Rock ‘n’ Roll, to decades of ballet shows. Alongside his numerous dancing figures; Feather’s canvasses explore Cornish landscapes and seascapes, market scenes from Morocco and views of a crowded Brighton
beach. There is often a carefully constructed rhythm to his compositions as they are filled with Feather’s unique vivacity.
In contrast to the vibrant dancehall works, Yankel’s seascapes, painted during his prolific time in St Ives
, are full of brooding atmosphere, captivating the magic coastline of Cornwall.
Throughout his life, flowers were a recurrent subject matter and several delightful still life paintings tie the exhibition together, acting as a bridge between the vibrant dancehalls and the bleak British coastline.
Yankel Feather knew what was important to him from a very early stage in life; he believed he was “born to be an artist. Despite being born into harsh poverty and having little academic training, Yankel was determined to pursue his career, and more importantly, his passion in painting. Painting almost always from memory, Yankel portrays a very personal and heartfelt representation. He relies on poetic colours when creating sumptuous still lives and atmospheric coastal landscapes.
The artistic figure of Yankel Feather represents the charismatic flair of modernism at its best, mastered with confident and uninhibited brush strokes which some have linked to Degas. Many have seen similarities of Yankel’s work to the figurative paintings of his contemporary Fred Yates; Matisse, Renoir
and Modigliani
who also served as key influences.
“From Velasquez I learnt how to see, from Hilton I learned how to feel and from Fuselli I learned how to fly”.– Yankel Feather
Liverpool Academy of Arts
The Liverpool Academy of Arts was founded in April 1810 as a regional equivalent of the Royal Academy, London. Two local art collectors, Henry Blundell and William Roscoe were its first Patron and Secretary, the Prince Regent gave his patronage for the next three years, and it was actively...
and Newlyn Society of Artists. Paintings by Yankel Feather are in the public collections of the Royal Pavilion and the Walker Gallery. His work is publicly and privately collected. An expressionist painter. Early works are more formal in later works Yankel's syle becomes more expressive and was said to have changed as he began painting from memory. His subject matter continued to include still life painting and began to flourish in the more populated scenes of Liverpool dance halls or seascapes of his St Ives period. Today the Yankel Feather estate is handled by his partner and primary dealers GX Gallery in London.
Early life
Expressionist painter Yankel Feather was born in Toxteth Liverpool in 1920, into a poor family as the youngest of seven children of Austrian-Russian parentage. He went to Harrington County Primary School and then to a Jewish secondary school. He had a hard childhood meeting his absentee father, an Austrian immigrant, only once and being confronted with the early death of his mother at the age of fourteen. Yankel started to paint at a young age and as such was prolific. Largely self taught Yankel spent much of his youth in the museums and galleries of his native Liverpool.Career beginnings
In 1937 he joined his older sister, Leah, in South London where he studied part time under the renowned potter, Heber Matthews Heber Matthews at Woolwich PolytechnicWoolwich Polytechnic
Woolwich Polytechnic School for Boys is a secondary school for boys in the London Borough of Greenwich, London, England, United Kingdom.-The founding of Woolwich Polytechnic:...
between 1937 and the outbreak of the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
War years and beyond
Feather returned to Merseyside during the War, where he worked at Rootes Aircraft Factory, and was conscripted into the Highland Light InfantryHighland Light Infantry
The Highland Light Infantry was a regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1959. In 1923 the regimental title was expanded to the Highland Light Infantry ...
, leading to spells in Glasgow, London and Bournemouth.
In his early life he was continuously struggling as he needed to earn a living and also to find time for his passion to become an artist. His first solo exhibition was at Gibbs Book Shop in Manchester in 1940. He became friends with Terry Frost
Terry Frost
Sir Terry Frost RA was an English artist noted for his abstracts....
in 1947. Frost later recalled: "I owe a lot to Yankel Feather, one of my first painter critics in 1947. I soon realised he was a bit of a Van Gogh person, full of talent, bursting with a trapped enthusiasm, supported by a genuine love of art and art history. I first saw his work when the Hannover Gallery had offered him a show. Wow! This was around 1948 and he was painting thickly, and with love, still lives of flowers."
“Full of talent, bursting with a trapped enthusiasm, supported by a genuine love of art and art history” - Sir Terry Frost ”
He acquired his artistic practice though observations of the great masters, such as Velasquez, Rembrandt and Degas in public galleries in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. He remembered their techniques and applied them in his art throughout his career.
He took studios at Park Walk in Chelsea in the Forties and became part of the artistic bohemian fringe whilst working as a Telephone Operator.
Feather exhibited at the renowned Helen Lessore's Beaux Arts Gallery in London during the 1950s.
Liverpool
In the 60s and 70s he was a well known person in the city owning night clubs and antique shops. During the time when Merseybeat hit the world his friends were Brian EpsteinBrian Epstein
Brian Samuel Epstein , was an English music entrepreneur, and is best known for being the manager of The Beatles up until his death. He also managed several other musical artists such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, The Remo Four & The Cyrkle...
, The Beatles, Cilla Black, Adrian Henri, Arthur Ballard, George Jardine
George Jardine
George Jardine FRSE was a Scottish minister of religion, philosopher, academic and educator. He was Professor at the University of Glasgow, of Greek from 1774, and then Professor of Logic and Rhetoric 1787 to 1824....
and many many more. While in Liverpool he exhibited with the Liverpool Academy of Art alongside Sam Walsh
Sam Walsh
Sam Walsh was leader of the Communist Party of Quebec for 28 years, from 1962 to 1990, and was a leader in the Communist Party of Canada and Labour-Progressive Party since the 1940s....
, Maurice Cockrill
Maurice Cockrill
Professor Dr. Maurice Cockrill, RA, FBA is a British painter and poet.Born in Hartlepool, County Durham, he studied at Wrexham School of Art, north east Wales, then Denbigh Technical College and later the University of Reading from 1960-4.In Liverpool, where he lived for nearly twenty years since...
, Adrian Henri
Adrian Henri
Adrian Henri was a British poet and painter best remembered as the founder of poetry-rock group The Liverpool Scene and as one of three poets in the best-selling anthology The Mersey Sound, along with Brian Patten and Roger McGough. The trio of Liverpool poets came to prominence in that city's...
, Nicolas Horsfield and Mike Lawson. He attended various art schools.
Whilst his works reminds us of Renoir
Renoir
-People with the surname Renoir :* Pierre-Auguste Renoir , French painter* Pierre Renoir , French actor and son of Pierre-Auguste Renoir* Jean Renoir , French film director and son of Pierre-Auguste Renoir...
, Degas and Lowry
L. S. Lowry
Laurence Stephen Lowry was an English artist born in Barrett Street, Stretford, Lancashire. Many of his drawings and paintings depict nearby Salford and surrounding areas, including Pendlebury, where he lived and worked for over 40 years at 117 Station Road , opposite St...
, they are very much his own style - strong, with lightness of brushstrokes over strong linear form with lots of movement.
Feather's Liverpool roots influence him their shadow both socially and professionally. Inspired by Lowry, whom he met at the Walker Art Gallery and visited at Mottram during the mid-1960s, Feather contrived from memory evocations of his working class roots. His later pictures of boys playing football on dockside waste land or of the vast edifices on the Mersey front, shared the documentary nostalgia of Lowry's mills and terraced streets. Feather also showed with perverse pride a coveted but damaged painting slashed by an irate John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
, whom Feather, an acquaintance of Brian Epstein
Brian Epstein
Brian Samuel Epstein , was an English music entrepreneur, and is best known for being the manager of The Beatles up until his death. He also managed several other musical artists such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, The Remo Four & The Cyrkle...
, had evicted from The Basement. Another acquaintance, Peter Brown, an employee of the Beatles' organisation Apple, invited Feather into Savile Row premises in 1970 where he saw the break-up of the Beatles at first hand. Ringo Starr was one of many notable Liverpudlian owners of Feather's exuberant, poetic work.
Cornwall
He sold his club in LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
in 1967 and after practicing ten years as an antiques dealer he was able to retire to Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
in 197. Yankel moved to Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
where he became a life long friend of the abstract artist Sir Terry Frost. It was here that he started to come to public notice and gain recognition for the quality of his work.
He lived near St Just
St Just in Penwith
St Just is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish encompasses the town of St Just and the nearby settlements of Trewellard, Pendeen and Kelynack: it is bounded by the parishes of Morvah to the north-east, Sancreed and Madron to the east, St Buryan and Sennen to...
in south-west Cornwall for 20 years, painting prolifically and exhibiting at the Salthouse
Salthouse
Salthouse is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the salt marshes of North Norfolk. It is north of Holt, west of Sheringham and north of Norwich. The village is on the A149 coast road between King's Lynn and Great Yarmouth. The nearest railway station...
and New Millennium Galleries in St Ives
St Ives, Cornwall
St Ives is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times it was commercially dependent on fishing. The decline in fishing, however, caused a shift in commercial...
during the 1980s and 1990s.
Personal life
Openly gay, but never camp, Feather found love with two long term partners late in life, Bill King whilst living in Cornwall and Terry Arbuckle who shared his studio home together at HoveHove
Hove is a town on the south coast of England, immediately to the west of its larger neighbour Brighton, with which it forms the unitary authority Brighton and Hove. It forms a single conurbation together with Brighton and some smaller towns and villages running along the coast...
in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
. He could express his sexuality in a series of simplified linear paintings which are show an anonymous and austere outline which cannot be seen in any other of his paintings. Today, Feather is listed in the directory of Modern British Painters and his work is enjoyed by many collectors, including Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
and Cilla Black
Cilla Black
Cilla Black OBE is an English singer, actress, entertainer and media personality, who has been consistently popular as a light entertainment figure since 1963. She is most famous for her singles Anyone Who Had A Heart, You're My World, and Alfie...
. But, the artist himself reflected: “I am painting the best paintings of my life right now. That is the most important thing for me, more so than who buys the work”.
Art
Yankel Feather’s paintings all come from distinctive periods of his life and work. His early years during the Mersey Beat days in Liverpool, depict rhythmical colourful movement in crowded dancehalls at a time when he was a club owner, just as the Beatles were breaking into the scene.Inspired by the atmosphere in the well-known Basement Club in Liverpool (set up by Feather in 1958) he has painted every aspect of dance: from the Twist during the II World War to Rock ‘n’ Roll, to decades of ballet shows. Alongside his numerous dancing figures; Feather’s canvasses explore Cornish landscapes and seascapes, market scenes from Morocco and views of a crowded Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
beach. There is often a carefully constructed rhythm to his compositions as they are filled with Feather’s unique vivacity.
In contrast to the vibrant dancehall works, Yankel’s seascapes, painted during his prolific time in St Ives
St Ives, Cornwall
St Ives is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times it was commercially dependent on fishing. The decline in fishing, however, caused a shift in commercial...
, are full of brooding atmosphere, captivating the magic coastline of Cornwall.
Throughout his life, flowers were a recurrent subject matter and several delightful still life paintings tie the exhibition together, acting as a bridge between the vibrant dancehalls and the bleak British coastline.
Yankel Feather knew what was important to him from a very early stage in life; he believed he was “born to be an artist. Despite being born into harsh poverty and having little academic training, Yankel was determined to pursue his career, and more importantly, his passion in painting. Painting almost always from memory, Yankel portrays a very personal and heartfelt representation. He relies on poetic colours when creating sumptuous still lives and atmospheric coastal landscapes.
The artistic figure of Yankel Feather represents the charismatic flair of modernism at its best, mastered with confident and uninhibited brush strokes which some have linked to Degas. Many have seen similarities of Yankel’s work to the figurative paintings of his contemporary Fred Yates; Matisse, Renoir
Renoir
-People with the surname Renoir :* Pierre-Auguste Renoir , French painter* Pierre Renoir , French actor and son of Pierre-Auguste Renoir* Jean Renoir , French film director and son of Pierre-Auguste Renoir...
and Modigliani
Amedeo Modigliani
Amedeo Clemente Modigliani was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. Primarily a figurative artist, he became known for paintings and sculptures in a modern style characterized by mask-like faces and elongation of form...
who also served as key influences.
“From Velasquez I learnt how to see, from Hilton I learned how to feel and from Fuselli I learned how to fly”.– Yankel Feather
See also
- St. Ives School of Art
- Liverpool Academy of ArtsLiverpool Academy of ArtsThe Liverpool Academy of Arts was founded in April 1810 as a regional equivalent of the Royal Academy, London. Two local art collectors, Henry Blundell and William Roscoe were its first Patron and Secretary, the Prince Regent gave his patronage for the next three years, and it was actively...
- Newlyn Society of Artists