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Ensayo del lote
Painted in 1950, Jack B. Yeats’s Winter Thoughts depicts a close-up view of two gentlemen in the midst of a conversation, the nuances of their poses and gestures a testament to the artist’s deft skills of observation. Through the subtle details of their body language and proximity to one another, Yeats conveys a vivid sense of their individual characters, their moods and the camaraderie they share. The seated figure on the right tucks his hands in his pockets and tilts his head downwards slightly, as if concentrating closely on what his companion is saying; to his right, the standing character leans his arm on the other man’s shoulder, clearly in the middle of sharing a story or opining on a particular matter, his own pose perhaps suggesting his thoughts have taken an introspective turn.
The poetic title, meanwhile, may be read as both a nod to the time of year in which the exchange appears to take place – indicated by the overcast sky and the short neckerchiefs they sport – and the season of life the two men find themselves in. In this way, Yeats appears to suggest that their discussion could cover topics as ordinary and mundane as the vagaries of the weather, the pair perhaps commenting on a sudden cold-snap, or recalling a winter storm from years past; or, alternatively, their musings may take a more philosophical angle, as they discuss the passage of time, memory and the process of ageing.
Filled with streams of bright, vibrant colour, Winter Thoughts encapsulates the bold expressive freedom of Yeats’s late painterly style. The scene is conveyed through vigorously worked passages of pigment that overlap and run into one another, the fluid, rippling waves of paint creating a highly complex interplay of colour. While Yeats was intensely private about his painting techniques, working behind closed doors in his studio and refusing visitors, he is known to have squeezed his pigments straight from their tubes onto the canvas during this period, variously using thick brushes, a palette knife and even his fingers to manipulate the paint and create his forms, guided by his intuition. ‘When I begin a painting, I think I am in control,’ he explained, ‘but after a while the paint controls me, and as I go on, we work together’ (quoted in B. Kennedy, Jack Butler Yeats, 1871-1957, Dublin, 1991, p. 33).
In the present work, this results in a highly tactile surface that shifts from thick passages of impasto to diaphanous, light veils of colour in which portions of the raw canvas remain visible, most notably in the stretches of soft pink through the background. Towards the centre of the picture, in the sliver of space between the two men, Yeats turns his paintbrush around and uses the pointed tip of the handle to score a series of short, linear dashes into the pigment. Elsewhere, layers of loose, spontaneous brushstrokes are interwoven in a complex pattern, changing from long linear strokes to short, staccato marks, variously describing the tumultuous, unsettled sky, the folds of the men’s clothing, the details of their features, and the surrounding cityscape, as a sweeping arc of blue and pink suggests the form of a bridge traversing the rushing waters of a river to the left of the scene. Together, the rich variety and dynamism of the facture in Winter Thoughts showcases Yeats’s indefatigable energy and continued vitality during the final years of his career, and his extraordinary understanding of the materiality of his paints.
Winter Thoughts was acquired from Victor Waddington in 1978 by Mrs Nancy Elizabeth (Betty) Jayne. Born in South London, Betty was the daughter of an engineering journalist, J. Foster Petrie. During the Second World War, Betty worked with the code breakers at Bletchley Park, then in administrative positions at the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Association of Special Libraries. In 1971, she married Oliver Jayne, a barrister with a career in the construction industry. Together, they bought a house in Sutton, Surrey and started collecting 20th century British and Irish art, which they acquired from leading London galleries. Their collection included work by Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Barbara Hepworth (see lot 5 in the Modern British and Irish Art Evening sale), Henry Moore (see lot 1 in the Modern British and Irish Art Evening sale) and John Piper (see lot 152 in the Modern British Art Day Sale) and Jack B. Yeats (also see lot 137 in the Modern British and Irish Art Day sale). Betty continued to live in the same house surrounded by the art she loved until her death at 102.
The poetic title, meanwhile, may be read as both a nod to the time of year in which the exchange appears to take place – indicated by the overcast sky and the short neckerchiefs they sport – and the season of life the two men find themselves in. In this way, Yeats appears to suggest that their discussion could cover topics as ordinary and mundane as the vagaries of the weather, the pair perhaps commenting on a sudden cold-snap, or recalling a winter storm from years past; or, alternatively, their musings may take a more philosophical angle, as they discuss the passage of time, memory and the process of ageing.
Filled with streams of bright, vibrant colour, Winter Thoughts encapsulates the bold expressive freedom of Yeats’s late painterly style. The scene is conveyed through vigorously worked passages of pigment that overlap and run into one another, the fluid, rippling waves of paint creating a highly complex interplay of colour. While Yeats was intensely private about his painting techniques, working behind closed doors in his studio and refusing visitors, he is known to have squeezed his pigments straight from their tubes onto the canvas during this period, variously using thick brushes, a palette knife and even his fingers to manipulate the paint and create his forms, guided by his intuition. ‘When I begin a painting, I think I am in control,’ he explained, ‘but after a while the paint controls me, and as I go on, we work together’ (quoted in B. Kennedy, Jack Butler Yeats, 1871-1957, Dublin, 1991, p. 33).
In the present work, this results in a highly tactile surface that shifts from thick passages of impasto to diaphanous, light veils of colour in which portions of the raw canvas remain visible, most notably in the stretches of soft pink through the background. Towards the centre of the picture, in the sliver of space between the two men, Yeats turns his paintbrush around and uses the pointed tip of the handle to score a series of short, linear dashes into the pigment. Elsewhere, layers of loose, spontaneous brushstrokes are interwoven in a complex pattern, changing from long linear strokes to short, staccato marks, variously describing the tumultuous, unsettled sky, the folds of the men’s clothing, the details of their features, and the surrounding cityscape, as a sweeping arc of blue and pink suggests the form of a bridge traversing the rushing waters of a river to the left of the scene. Together, the rich variety and dynamism of the facture in Winter Thoughts showcases Yeats’s indefatigable energy and continued vitality during the final years of his career, and his extraordinary understanding of the materiality of his paints.
Winter Thoughts was acquired from Victor Waddington in 1978 by Mrs Nancy Elizabeth (Betty) Jayne. Born in South London, Betty was the daughter of an engineering journalist, J. Foster Petrie. During the Second World War, Betty worked with the code breakers at Bletchley Park, then in administrative positions at the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Association of Special Libraries. In 1971, she married Oliver Jayne, a barrister with a career in the construction industry. Together, they bought a house in Sutton, Surrey and started collecting 20th century British and Irish art, which they acquired from leading London galleries. Their collection included work by Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Barbara Hepworth (see lot 5 in the Modern British and Irish Art Evening sale), Henry Moore (see lot 1 in the Modern British and Irish Art Evening sale) and John Piper (see lot 152 in the Modern British Art Day Sale) and Jack B. Yeats (also see lot 137 in the Modern British and Irish Art Day sale). Betty continued to live in the same house surrounded by the art she loved until her death at 102.