21
Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957)
Estimate:
€6,000 - €8,000
Sold
€5,800
Live Auction
Irish & International Art
Size
8.50 by 5.50in. (21.6 by 14cm)
Description
Title: AT THE FÉIS
Note: Pyle notes, "This may be the story-telling competition witnessed by Yeats in the company of John Quinn in the late summer of 1902."Another example of Yeats' treatment of this aspect of Western life can be found listed in Pyle's catalogue of his watercolours, A Féis [Feish] in County Galway, 1904, shown in New York, London and Dublin [Pyle no. 508, p.133-134]. Here she offers context to the subject matter describing how... "In 1893 Douglas Hyde founded the Gaelic League in an endeavour to revive the Irish customs and the Irish language; and this led four years later to the foundation of the Féis Ceoil (Festival of Music), where Irish musicians playing both Irish and European music had the opportunity to play in competitions of the highest standard in cities and towns. Local féiseanna then sprang up around the West, as part of the Nationalist movement…".
Note: Pyle notes, "This may be the story-telling competition witnessed by Yeats in the company of John Quinn in the late summer of 1902."Another example of Yeats' treatment of this aspect of Western life can be found listed in Pyle's catalogue of his watercolours, A Féis [Feish] in County Galway, 1904, shown in New York, London and Dublin [Pyle no. 508, p.133-134]. Here she offers context to the subject matter describing how... "In 1893 Douglas Hyde founded the Gaelic League in an endeavour to revive the Irish customs and the Irish language; and this led four years later to the foundation of the Féis Ceoil (Festival of Music), where Irish musicians playing both Irish and European music had the opportunity to play in competitions of the highest standard in cities and towns. Local féiseanna then sprang up around the West, as part of the Nationalist movement…".
Medium
pen, ink and watercolour
Signature
signed upper left; titled in the artist's hand on reverse; titled and with provenance on Dawson Gallery label on reverse; numbered "15" and "23" on reverse corresponding to exhibition and plate number
Provenance
Dawson Gallery, Dublin;Collection of Ms Nora Niland, Sligo, 1962;with Sligo County Library and Museum (19);Thence by Niland family descent to the present owner
Literature
Yeats, Jack B., Life in the West of Ireland, Maunsel, Dublin, 1912 (reproduced as plate no. 15);Pyle, Hilary, The Different Worlds of Jack B. Yeats: His Cartoons and Illustrations, Irish Academic Press, Dublin, 1994, catalogue no. 1544, p.216;Pyle, Hilary, Jack B. Yeats: His Watercolours, Drawings and Pastels, Irish Academic Press, 1993, p.133-134 (illustrated)
Exhibited
'Drawings and Pictures of Life in the West of Ireland', Mills Hall, Dublin, 8-22 April 1920, catalogue no. 39;'Watercolours and Pen and Ink Drawings', Dawson Gallery, Dublin, November to 12 December 1962, no. 45;'Joint Exhibition of Paintings from the Collections of the Late Ernie O'Malley and the Yeats Museum Sligo', County Library and Museum, Sligo, 2-20 August 1963, no. 13;'Jack B. Yeats and his Family [in association with Rosc 71]' County Library and Museum, Sligo, October to December 1971, shown afterwards, Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin, April to May 1972, no. 23
