---
title: "Come and See, Michael Chaplin Book Launch"
date: "2011-05-27"
tags: [peter-yates, artist]
categories: [peter-yates, artist]
author: Jolyon Yates
publisher: Jolyon Yates
image:
    src: blog/come-and-see-michael-chaplin-peter-yates.jpg
    alt: come and see book by michael chaplin showing peter yates
    title: Come and See by Michael Chaplin showing Peter Yates
---
![Come and See Tyneside Cinema Michael Chaplin edge](https://www.odechair.com/blog/files/come-and-see-tyneside-cinema-michael-chaplin.png) *Come and See by Michael Chaplin*

[**Come and See**](https://www.tynesidecinema.co.uk/ "Come and See by Michael Chaplin") - The Beguiling Story of the Tyneside Cinema by Michael Chaplin is launched to celebrate 75 years of the [**Tyneside Cinema**](https://www.tynesidecinema.co.uk/ "Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle"). It unearths some [**Peter Yates**](https://www.peteryates.co.uk/ "Peter Yates Artist and Architect") stories of old, both from his time painting the [***'Light and Shadows'*** Mural](https://www.odechair.com/blog/files/Restored_Peter_Yates_Mural_Unveiled_at_the_Tyneside_Cinema.html "Blog:Restored Peter Yates Mural Unveiled at the Tyneside Cinema") in the Tyneside Cinema's [**Electra**](https://www.tynesidecinema.co.uk/ "Tyneside Cinema Electra Theatre") Theatre in 1976 and from his post war Paris experiences meeting Georges Braque and Le Corbusier among others.

Michael writes: *"The book started as a little web project, but has grown and grown, and gradually turned into an illustrated 160-page book, beautifully designed by David McClure. The reason it took off is very simple -- it's a wonderful story"*

The book picks out the multitude of colourful characters from the cinema's past. [**Peter Yates**](https://www.peteryates.co.uk/ "Peter Yates, Artist and Architect") was one such character, a lover of film and member and supporter of the [**Tyneside Cinema**](https://www.tynesidecinema.co.uk/ "Tyneside Cinema"). After a fire in 1974, the cinema was refurbished and Peter's contribution was the mural *'**[Lights and Shadows on the Wall](https://www.odechair.com/blog/files/Restored_Peter_Yates_Mural_Unveiled_at_the_Tyneside_Cinema.html "Blog:Restored Peter Yates Mural Unveiled at the Tyneside Cinema")**'*, which stretched the length of the Club Cinema, later to become the Electra. The mural depicted a series of ideas and images taken from the history of cinema. It began with a Victorian Zoetrope machine which simulated a man running by turning a slitted drum and ended with Marilyn Monroe and other 20th Century icons from the silver screen.

![**Peter Yates painting at the Tyneside Cinema**](https://www.odechair.com/blog/files/peter-yates-painting-at-the-tyneside-cinema.jpg) *Peter Yates painting in the Club Cinema, 1975*

![**Peter Yates Mural at the Tyneside Cinema**](https://www.odechair.com/blog/files/peter-yates-mural-at-the-tyneside-cinema.jpg) *Peter Yates' Mural at the Tyneside Cinema, 1975*

[**Michael Chaplin**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Chaplin_(writer/producer) "Michael Chaplin Wikipedia")'s chapter on **Peter Yates** is titled ***"The Song is over but the Chords go on vibrating"***. This is a reference to a piece written by [**Berthold Lubetkin**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berthold_Lubetkin "Berthold Lubetkin Wikipedia") in 1985 for **Sally Ann Yates** to support a retrospective exhibition of Peter Yates paintings at the **RIBA** in London.

***'Some years ago I was talking with Le Corbusier about Peter Yates\
with whose work he was familiar, this boy can see things said he,\
but to me it seemed more relevant that Peter could do things.\
In his paintings he prodded the depths rather than depicting the surface.\
Simmering passions behind the stony immobility.\
Cathedrals like rocks and rocks like cathedrals. From the vision of\
his beloved Durham locked in the mist of time to the Ultramarine\
rhapsody of Cyclopic Islands.\
By staking claims on the distance he excites the imagination.\
Simplicity, directness and purity give his work the power.\
That was Peter Yates my friend the poet architect.\
The song is over but the chords go on vibrating'.***\

**Berthold Lubetkin, 1985**

**Michael Chaplin's** book ***Come and See*** is available from the [**Tyneside Cinema**](https://www.tynesidecinema.co.uk/ "Tyneside Cinema Come and See") and from [**Amazon**](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Come-See-Beguiling-Tyneside-Cinema/dp/0956655114 "Come and See Michael Chaplin book at Amazon")

![**Tyneside Cinemal Mural Electra Peter Yates**](https://www.odechair.com/blog/files/tyneside-cinemal-mural-electra-peter-yates-.jpg) *Peter Yates' mural 'Light and Shadow' in the Club Cinema, 1975*

The full series of 30 Peter Yates Giclée Art Prints are now available from the [**Peter Yates Print Shop**](https://www.peteryates.co.uk/print-shop/ "Peter Yates Arts Prints Available")