British painter Neil Stokoe was born in 1935. He started his studies in 1953 at the Sunderland College of Art before moving to London to study at Royal College of Art during its ‘Golden Years’ alongside David Hockney, Ron Kitaj and Frank Bowling.

Stokoe exhibited at the Walker Art Gallery in the John Moores Art Prize, Liverpool in 1963 and 1967. Despite the encouragement of his close friend Francis Bacon to exhibit his paintings more often, he avoided the vibrant London art world of the 1960’s – leaving him largely unknown to the public. He lived a solitary, reclusive life and worked intensively for decades in his west London studio home without any inclination to exhibit. He instead concentrated on teaching, at Wimbledon college of Art, for over 35 years. Stokoe only had his first major solo exhibition after his retirement.

Saatchi Yates’ exhibition will be Stokoe’s first retrospective since his passing in 2019 featuring major paintings from his estate, some of which have never been on display. This exhibition captures the essence and evolution of Stokoe’s work across multiple decades, spanning his early work from 1960’s up until his passing.

Neil Stokoe has exhibited at institutions including the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (1963); Barbican Arts Centre, London (1986); Royal Academy of Art, London (1988), and is held in the following public collections: Art Council Collection, London; The Reynolds Foundation, Menorca.