Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957) Two illustrations to 'The...
Estimate
€15,000 - €20,000
Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957) Two illustrations to 'The Woman of Three Cows' by James Clarence Mangan A pair, pen, ink and watercolour, 11.5 x 16cm (4_ x 6_'') Both signed, one with artist's monogram, the other in full Provenance: John Lynes, Lanarkshire; Sale, these rooms, 10 February 2003; Private Collection Exhibited: Dublin, Stephen's Green Gallery, 'Jack B. Yeats; Drawings and Pictures of Life in the West of Ireland'' No. 21 and 25; Dublin, The Gorry Gallery, March 2005, No. 39 and 40 Literature: A Broadside, No 4, seventh and last year (Sept 1914); Hilary Pyle, The Different Worlds of Jack B. Yeats, Dublin 1994, p. 270, No. 1969, 1970 Jack B. Yeats first became involved in the Arts and Crafts movement when he lived in Devon, publishing ÔA Broad SheetÕ and some little illustrated books for children with Elkin Mathews, the London publisher. About the same time his sisters set out to Dublin to establish an Arts and Crafts co-operative with textile artist Evelyn Gleeson, marketing handcrafted embroideries for which Jack provided some designs, and establishing the Dun Emer private press for which he designed bookplates and prints. The sisters left Dun Emer in July 1908 to form their independent company Ð the Cuala Industries. This was one month after Elizabeth Yeats had issued the first number of Jack YeatsÕs new illustrated monthly publication from Dun Emer, ÔA BroadsideÕ, which was to prove such a success under the Cuala imprint - running for seven years- and is today a much coveted collectorsÕ item. W.B. Yeats would revive ÔA BroadsideÕ nearly twenty years later Ð first with F.R. Higgins in 1935 and then with the writer Dorothy Wellesley in 1937 Ð where the emphasis was on contemporary English as well as Irish poetry, and sometimes music was included. Jack Yeats, along with other artists, was to contribute illustrations to this later more specialised, still monthly publication. Jack B. YeatsÕs ÔBroadsideÕ (1908-15) breathed the spirit of the Irish Renaissance. Original in its art and presentation, it looked back to traditional Irish broadsheets and broadsides of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, where a sheet of popular verse was enlivened with a pictorial woodcut in black ink. ÔA Broad SheetÕ (1902-3) which he published with Pamela Colman Smith, had consisted of a single large sheet of paper, but for ÔA BroadsideÕ he adopted a smaller format, a folded sheet with one or two illustrated poems on the first two pages and one large uncoloured picture on the third page. Patrons received individual issues in plain blue envelopes, and handsome blue portfolios issued later enabled regular subscribers to store complete sets. Yeats published poems by modern writers such as P draic Colum and James Stephens, as well as old ballads and patriotic songs appropriate to the times. He did all the illustrations himself, and watercolour tinting was applied by hand under his instruction by the women assistants at the Cuala Press. ManganÕs poem ÔThe Woman of Three CowsÕ appeared in A Broadside in September 1914 in the seventh and last year of the set, when the subscription was 12/- a year, post free. James Clarence Mangan (1803 Ð 1847) was the essence of romanticism to lovers of Irish literature. ÔBorn to unhappiness, dowered with a melancholy temperament and a drifting will, he never found natural joy save, like Thomas Kempis, Òin a nook with a bookÓ and in the exercise of his art,Õ scholars wrote later, lamenting that Ôlike sundry other unhappy poets, he found joys less natural and sane in opium and alcohol.Õ He worked sporadically in the Ordnance Survey Office, and as a cataloguer in Trinity College Library, encouraged in his writing by intellectuals of his day such as Petrie and Todd; and he is remembered particularly for his recreations of traditional Irish poems such as ÔR is n DubhÕ (ÔMy Dark RosaleenÕ), and ÔThe Woman of Three CowsÕ, both of which appear regularly in anthologies of Irish verse. Yeats, made two illustrations for the poem Ð the third (uncoloured) illustration in this issue of ÔA BroadsideÕ, is a fair scene, entitled ÔHooplaÕ. Yeats seems to have gone to ÔThe Cabinet of Irish LiteratureÕ for his version of the poem. The collection of volumes of the 1880s had been revised recently and republished in the new extended edition of 1909 by his brotherÕs friend, Katharine Tynan Hinkson. Yeats included all nine verses printed there, and in this first illustration conveys the gist of the main part of the poem. A shabby man, whose attentions have been rebuffed, grasps his blackthorn and clutches his coat lapels at the same time as giving the stand-offish woman a piece of his mind (she meantime keeps a tight hand on the lid of her basket. He leans towards her, looking up into her haughty eyes, exclaiming Ð Ôyou it seems are big with vain ideasÕ (she is also much better fed than he is). He exhorts her not to be so arrogant, for Ôworldly wealth soon melts away, and cheats the very miser.Õ If Lord ClareÕs sons, OÕDonnell of the Ships, and other illustrious Irishmen (in his ranting the loquacious man gives a verse to each of the heroes he describes) were forced to bow to Fate Õas every mortal bows, Can you be proud, can you be stiff, my Woman of Three CowsÕ The drawing which captures the tension of sexual confrontation superbly, is coloured simply and skilfully with an ultramarine wash on the tinkerÕs scarf and on the neck of the womanÕs dress, with added touches of burnt sienna. In the second illustration the woman has managed to extricate herself from her unwanted suitor, and is seen departing in the distance, while the man broods fierily on their conversation, the final verse on his lips: ÔNow there you go! You still, of course, keep up your scornful bearing, And IÕm too poor to hinder you: but, by the cloak IÕm wearing, If I had but four cows myself, even though you were my spouse, IÕd thwack you well to cure your pride, my Woman of Three Cows!Õ The itinerantÕs blackthorn stick is propped significantly against the stone wall which the Woman of Three Cows is passing. Though Jack Yeats executed countless drawings for illustration, he never repeated himself. The personalities peopling the world of his imagination have all been observed from life and appear as individuals appropriate to whatever setting they are in. In these two striking examples illustrating ManganÕs poem, Yeats captures the characters and their emotional conflict to perfection, creating economic, animated, humorous images of great beauty. Hilary Pyle, 2005, courtesy of Gorry Gallery, Dublin, to whom we are indebted.
Estimate
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Estimate
€15,000 - €20,000
Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957) Two illustrations to 'The Woman of Three Cows' by James Clarence Mangan A pair, pen, ink and watercolour, 11.5 x 16cm (4_ x 6_'') Both signed, one with artist's monogram, the other in full Provenance: John Lynes, Lanarkshire; Sale, these rooms, 10 February 2003; Private Collection Exhibited: Dublin, Stephen's Green Gallery, 'Jack B. Yeats; Drawings and Pictures of Life in the West of Ireland'' No. 21 and 25; Dublin, The Gorry Gallery, March 2005, No. 39 and 40 Literature: A Broadside, No 4, seventh and last year (Sept 1914); Hilary Pyle, The Different Worlds of Jack B. Yeats, Dublin 1994, p. 270, No. 1969, 1970 Jack B. Yeats first became involved in the Arts and Crafts movement when he lived in Devon, publishing ÔA Broad SheetÕ and some little illustrated books for children with Elkin Mathews, the London publisher. About the same time his sisters set out to Dublin to establish an Arts and Crafts co-operative with textile artist Evelyn Gleeson, marketing handcrafted embroideries for which Jack provided some designs, and establishing the Dun Emer private press for which he designed bookplates and prints. The sisters left Dun Emer in July 1908 to form their independent company Ð the Cuala Industries. This was one month after Elizabeth Yeats had issued the first number of Jack YeatsÕs new illustrated monthly publication from Dun Emer, ÔA BroadsideÕ, which was to prove such a success under the Cuala imprint - running for seven years- and is today a much coveted collectorsÕ item. W.B. Yeats would revive ÔA BroadsideÕ nearly twenty years later Ð first with F.R. Higgins in 1935 and then with the writer Dorothy Wellesley in 1937 Ð where the emphasis was on contemporary English as well as Irish poetry, and sometimes music was included. Jack Yeats, along with other artists, was to contribute illustrations to this later more specialised, still monthly publication. Jack B. YeatsÕs ÔBroadsideÕ (1908-15) breathed the spirit of the Irish Renaissance. Original in its art and presentation, it looked back to traditional Irish broadsheets and broadsides of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, where a sheet of popular verse was enlivened with a pictorial woodcut in black ink. ÔA Broad SheetÕ (1902-3) which he published with Pamela Colman Smith, had consisted of a single large sheet of paper, but for ÔA BroadsideÕ he adopted a smaller format, a folded sheet with one or two illustrated poems on the first two pages and one large uncoloured picture on the third page. Patrons received individual issues in plain blue envelopes, and handsome blue portfolios issued later enabled regular subscribers to store complete sets. Yeats published poems by modern writers such as P draic Colum and James Stephens, as well as old ballads and patriotic songs appropriate to the times. He did all the illustrations himself, and watercolour tinting was applied by hand under his instruction by the women assistants at the Cuala Press. ManganÕs poem ÔThe Woman of Three CowsÕ appeared in A Broadside in September 1914 in the seventh and last year of the set, when the subscription was 12/- a year, post free. James Clarence Mangan (1803 Ð 1847) was the essence of romanticism to lovers of Irish literature. ÔBorn to unhappiness, dowered with a melancholy temperament and a drifting will, he never found natural joy save, like Thomas Kempis, Òin a nook with a bookÓ and in the exercise of his art,Õ scholars wrote later, lamenting that Ôlike sundry other unhappy poets, he found joys less natural and sane in opium and alcohol.Õ He worked sporadically in the Ordnance Survey Office, and as a cataloguer in Trinity College Library, encouraged in his writing by intellectuals of his day such as Petrie and Todd; and he is remembered particularly for his recreations of traditional Irish poems such as ÔR is n DubhÕ (ÔMy Dark RosaleenÕ), and ÔThe Woman of Three CowsÕ, both of which appear regularly in anthologies of Irish verse. Yeats, made two illustrations for the poem Ð the third (uncoloured) illustration in this issue of ÔA BroadsideÕ, is a fair scene, entitled ÔHooplaÕ. Yeats seems to have gone to ÔThe Cabinet of Irish LiteratureÕ for his version of the poem. The collection of volumes of the 1880s had been revised recently and republished in the new extended edition of 1909 by his brotherÕs friend, Katharine Tynan Hinkson. Yeats included all nine verses printed there, and in this first illustration conveys the gist of the main part of the poem. A shabby man, whose attentions have been rebuffed, grasps his blackthorn and clutches his coat lapels at the same time as giving the stand-offish woman a piece of his mind (she meantime keeps a tight hand on the lid of her basket. He leans towards her, looking up into her haughty eyes, exclaiming Ð Ôyou it seems are big with vain ideasÕ (she is also much better fed than he is). He exhorts her not to be so arrogant, for Ôworldly wealth soon melts away, and cheats the very miser.Õ If Lord ClareÕs sons, OÕDonnell of the Ships, and other illustrious Irishmen (in his ranting the loquacious man gives a verse to each of the heroes he describes) were forced to bow to Fate Õas every mortal bows, Can you be proud, can you be stiff, my Woman of Three CowsÕ The drawing which captures the tension of sexual confrontation superbly, is coloured simply and skilfully with an ultramarine wash on the tinkerÕs scarf and on the neck of the womanÕs dress, with added touches of burnt sienna. In the second illustration the woman has managed to extricate herself from her unwanted suitor, and is seen departing in the distance, while the man broods fierily on their conversation, the final verse on his lips: ÔNow there you go! You still, of course, keep up your scornful bearing, And IÕm too poor to hinder you: but, by the cloak IÕm wearing, If I had but four cows myself, even though you were my spouse, IÕd thwack you well to cure your pride, my Woman of Three Cows!Õ The itinerantÕs blackthorn stick is propped significantly against the stone wall which the Woman of Three Cows is passing. Though Jack Yeats executed countless drawings for illustration, he never repeated himself. The personalities peopling the world of his imagination have all been observed from life and appear as individuals appropriate to whatever setting they are in. In these two striking examples illustrating ManganÕs poem, Yeats captures the characters and their emotional conflict to perfection, creating economic, animated, humorous images of great beauty. Hilary Pyle, 2005, courtesy of Gorry Gallery, Dublin, to whom we are indebted.