JACK B. YEATS, R.H.A. | THE POETIC MORNING

Victor Waddington Gallery, Dublin;

Sold to Serge Philipson in 1946;

Private collection;

Adam's, Dublin, 17 June 1992, lot 72

Hilary Pyle, Jack B. Yeats, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, Vol.II., Andre Deutsch, London, 1992, no.717, p.647

Walking down a street basking in morning light, a figure looks up reverently to the sky, hands raised in a prayer-like gesture. The dazzling light brightens one half of the street and casts shadows across the road. In the background a glimpse of the country can be seen, the conical peak resembling Croagh Patrick in north Mayo. 

The surface of this 9 x 14 in. work vibrates with colour and energy through Yeats' characteristic use of palette and brush. The result is a painting that has a power and presence which belies its size. The strongly modelled man in the foreground is superbly realised, Yeats depicting the side of him caught in the sunlight with swift and brilliant paintwork. As with many of Yeats' best oils, colour is not limited but liberated, used here to reinforce the sense of the figure's enrapture with the morning sun. 

Yeats was an optimistic figure with a reverence for life, found even in his subjects on death. Man's communion with nature is a constant element, with Yeats' most existential works invariably locating the drama within broad landscapes. Here, Yeats' point appears to be more direct, romantic and instantly relatable. It is the joyful sensation of a new day, full of promise, and drinking in the warm light on a morning's walk.  

Shortly after the present work was painted, it was bought by an important collector of Yeats' work, and indeed the man responsible for introducing Yeats to Victor Waddington, Serge Philipson. A German-Jew, Philipson left Germany with his wife Sophie in the 1930s among growing tensions. They settled in Paris where Serge joined his brother-in-law who was running a milliners, 'Les Modes Modernes'. Shortly after, the company was visited by an Irish delegation seeking industries to establish factories in the West of Ireland. 'Les Modes Modernes' agreed and Serge found himself relocating to Ireland, where he successfully ran the new factory. He embraced his new life in Ireland and ingratiated himself to the arts, admiring Yeats in particular and, like Yeats, becoming a guardian of the National Gallery of Ireland.