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Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957) THE C

Currency:EUR Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:150,000.00 - 200,000.00 EUR
Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957) THE C
Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957) THE COMFORTER, 1952 signed lower right; exhibition label on reverse oil on board 36 by 46cm., 14 by 18in. Provenance: Victor Waddington Galleries, Dublin; Mrs Jobling-Purser, Dublin; Private collection Exhibited: ’Jack B. Yeats: Oil Paintings’, Victor Waddington Galleries, Dublin, October 1953, catalogue no. 1; ’Jack B. Yeats, Loan Exhibition’, New Gallery, Belfast, 14-26 June 1965, catalogue no. 9; ’Irelandskt - Exhibition of Irish Paintings: From Yeats to Ballagh’, Lunds Kansthall, Lund, Sweden, April - May 1972 (organised by the Arts Council of Ireland / An Chomhairle Ealaíon), catalogue no. 57 Literature: Hilary Pyle, Jack B. Yeats: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, Andre Deutsh, London, 1992, Vol. II, page 1026, catalogue no. 1125; also Vol. III, full page illustration, page 568 Hilary Pyle has described this work as follows: “A girl with a sallow complexion, wearing a black hat, has a numb absorbed expression. The face of the man who leans towards her, speaking gently, is brightened by the light of the sky seen above the landscape which opens beyond the wall before which their upper parts are seen. There is a sketch for this in pencil in the final workbook. Yeats painted many pictures of personalities in conflict or in accord, and was always interested in the psychological relationship of one person with another. At this late stage, he may also have been considering the theological implications of the title”. (Pyle, op. cit., Vol. II, page 1026). For a late work The Comforter has a powerful simplicity, rich colour and assured composition. The thought behind it, a narrative of kindness offered and comfort taken from it, binds the central figures together. Both of them, though particularly the woman, are given clear characterisation, not always so successfully done by Yeats, whose technique, so full of the flamboyant use of impasto, created at times a riot rather than a resolution of event. Here, the emphasis that he sought and has achieved is one of calmness and consideration. The full-face presentation of the woman is unequivocal, though whatever grief she is holding to her heart is under a measure of control that makes the comforter’s role that much more difficult. Yeats had three years to go, and some fabulous works to paint; yet few in the last cycle of his output have the determination of thought and intent, as well as the control, achieved here. Bruce Arnold, Dublin, October 2005