Lot 128
Jack Butler Yeats
Irish, 1871-1957
THE VIEW, 1949
Signed JACK B. YEATS (lr), titled on the reverse
Oil on masonite
14 x 18 inches (35.5 x 45.7 cm.)

Provenance:
Sent by the artist to Victor Waddington, London, July 1949
Sold to private collection, Ireland
Waddington Galleries, London, 1975
Private Collection, California, 1977

Literature:
Hilary Pyle, Jack B. Yeats: A Catalogue Raisonne of the Oil Paintings, Andre Deutsch, London, 1992, vol. II, p.881, no.974, illus.; vol. III, p.499, no.974, illus.
T.G. Rosenthal, The Art of Jack B. Yeats, Exhibitions, Bibliography and Notes on the plates by Hilary Pyle, Andre Deutsch, London, 1993, p.232, no.228, illus.

There is an overwhelming sense of both nostalgia and optimism in the work of Yeats. With the bravura of his brushstrokes and the boldness of color the artist is able to capture the feel and smell of the air and soil of wind-battered Western Ireland, the land of his childhood. As much as the act of painting is an emotional release for the artist, the image as well becomes a catharsis. His images are not ones of sorrow, but rather of strength and of the resilience of the human spirit, of will and the unrestricted freedom to move forward.

The figure of the horse is one of the most important and powerful themes in Yeats' ouevre. Not only is the horse a mythical figure in Irish folklore, but it has played an integral role in Yeats' childhood, and is his remembrances of his youth in Sligo. For Yeats the horse has become a metaphor for youth and freedom, and everything that reminds him of home.
Hilary Pyle (Yeats, Portrait of an Artistic Family, London, 1997, p.260). comments on Yeats' later works, 'As he grew older, Yeats' landscapes became progressively more visionary, so that earth, water, air and light seemed all to reach some metaphysical plane where the physical world is allied with the heavenly. The landscapes are still recognizably Irish in their colouring, and in their changeable weather...But emotionally Yeats seemed to gather up the countryside which he had studied in detail as a young man, and transform through a personal ecstasy this land he loved so deeply.'

Estate of George Roy Hill


Sold for $427,500 (Includes Buyer's Premium)
Estimate $400,000-600,000

Frame rubbing. Could use a light clean. Looks good.


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