Frederick Gore RA British , 1972-2009

Frederick Gore CBE RA was a British painter, educator, and writer, born in Richmond, Surrey, and the son of the artist Spencer Gore. He was educated at Trinity College and the Ruskin School of Drawing in Oxford from 1932 to 1934, before continuing his training at the Westminster School of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art between 1934 and 1937. During his final year as a student, he held his first solo exhibition at the Redfern Gallery, where he would later exhibit regularly following the Second World War.

In 1938, Gore travelled to Greece, and the work inspired by this trip was subsequently exhibited in Paris. Mediterranean locations such as Greece, Majorca, and France remained central to his landscape painting throughout his career. His use of colour aligned more closely with the French tradition than with that of his English contemporaries.

Alongside his painting practice, Gore had a distinguished teaching career, holding positions at Westminster, Epsom, and Chelsea Schools of Art. He served as Head of Painting at St Martin’s School of Art from 1951 to 1979.

He was elected a Royal Academician in 1973 and later chaired the Royal Academy’s exhibition committee from 1976 to 1987. Gore was also an accomplished writer, publishing Abstract Art (1956), Painting: Some Basic Principles (1965), and Piero della Francesca’s ‘The Baptism’ (1969), in addition to contributing numerous introductions to Royal Academy catalogues. Retrospective exhibitions of his work were held in 1979 at Gainsborough’s House in Sudbury and at Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery, followed by a significant exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1989. He was awarded a CBE in 1988.

Gore’s work is held in numerous public collections, including Southampton City Art Gallery, Plymouth Art Gallery, Leicester County Council, Doncaster Museum & Art Gallery, the Contemporary Art Society, Reading Museum, the London Transport Museum, the Royal Academy of Arts, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, the Government Art Collection, Arts Council of Great Britain, Manchester Art Gallery, the Jerwood Collection, Williamson Art Gallery & Museum in Wirral, Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum in Bournemouth, and Tate Britain in London.