John Yale

John Yale (1925 – 1998) was a Canadian British artist. He was Canada's only full-time aviation painter, and the only non-British member of the Society of Aviation Artists of Britain. He painted for the Royal Air Force and his works were exposed at the Royal Society of British Artists in London, England.

Early life John Yale, , was born in Montreal in June 1925, to Joseph Hormidas Lacourse and Claire Yale, members of the Yale family. He received the surname of his mother rather than the one of his father, and his parents divorced a few months after their marriage.

Yale's grandfather was politician Arthur Yale and his cousins included lawyer Jacob Yale Fortier, and doctor Pierre-Paul Yale.

Yale attended boarding schools. Other attendees included Monsignor Joseph-Conrad Chaumont, judge Louis Philippe Demers, judge Charles-Auguste Bertrand, alderman Joseph-Marie Savignac, politician Paul-Émile Côté, and others.

In 1959, he exposed 23 paintings as a one-man exhibition of aviation works at the Royal Society of British Artists in London, one of Britain's foremost art galleries. He painted numerous works for the Swedish Air Force at their military bases, and prepared for future exhibitions in Paris, and in Canada thereafter.

All his 23 paintings at the Royal Society of British Artists gallery were about the Royal Air Force.

This painting was presented to the RAF Fighter Command during his exhibition. Yale passed some time at the RAF Wattisham Airfield, and Air Vice Marshal Peter Anthony Latham paid tribute to Yale's painting and reputation as an artist in Britain.

Later life

Yale exposed his works at the exhibition of the Industrial Painters Group in 1962.

In 1966, Yale received with his wife at their home in Montreal Miss Lillian Chartrand, to be married with the Chief Justice of Canada, John Richard, appointed by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. In 1968, Yale designed an annual memorative envelope on Shakespeare's birthday, in black on yellow, depicting a miniature reproduction of the page of The First Folio edition of Shakespeare, and some drawings of his characters such as Julius Caesar and King Lear. The envelopes were made under the Stratford-upon-Avon Philatelic Society, members of the Association of British Philatelic Societies, seated at Stratford-on-Avon Racecourse.

In 1969, for the commemoration of William Shakespeare's birthday, he designed a second serie of special envelopes showing characters from "The Merry Wives of Windsor", played at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in England, property of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

John Yale died in 1998 in Ludlow, Shropshire, England, near Birmingham. His mother Claire Yale had died one year before in 1997. His son, Jean Yale, was a radio host and worked in Montreal and Paris with artists Charles Dullin, René Simon and Sita Riddez. He also worked with artists Paul Guèvremont, Jacques Auger, Jean Desprez and Marcelle Barthe, Royal tour commentator of the young Princess Elizabeth of England.