Fred Beckett RBA RI FROI RSMA 1933 – 2025

We are very sorry to report the death of Fred Beckett (1933 – 2025) who was a major figure in the art world, firstly as Finance Director of Winsor & Newton, then in his own career as a painter. Fred served a term as President of the ROI and was a member of the RSMA and Hon. Member of both the RI and the RBA. He was elected to the Wapping Group in 1998.

As an East Anglian, Fred Beckett had a natural love of landscape and big skies. Both aspects provided Fred with great inspiration and gave wonderful opportunities to observe nature through all her elements.

Fred’s aim, as in all his paintings, was to capture the feeling of being there and experiencing the atmosphere, activity and any particular sense of light, colour and so on. He regarded each painting as a new adventure!

When painting in oils Fred mostly used ready stretched Belgian linen canvas that have been prepared with several coats of acrylic gesso and a tonal ground. Fred did not use any turpentine or linseed oil in the colour mixes, relying instead on the oil content of the paints themselves or sometimes adding a small amount of Wingel to speed up the drying. He prefered a tear-off palette than the conventional wooden type.

Gallery

• 

  The Shell Seekers

• 

  Awaiting the Master’s Verdict