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Lot Essay
'The true artist has painted the picture because he wishes to hold
again for his pleasure - and for always - a moment, and because he is
impelled by his human affections to pass on the moment to his fellows
and those who came after him' (George Russell (AE), cited in H. Pyle, 1970, op. cit., p. 166).
Sheer physical and emotional liberation form the aesthetic touchstone of this powerful work. Yeats uses the image of a wildly galloping horse and jockey silhouetted against the horizon to record the transcendent state of ultimate freedom. He presents the viewer with a compelling image of the vivacious duo flying across the canvas in a moment of absolute physical and spiritual release.
The horse is a recurrent theme throughout Yeats's oeuvre, appearing in graphic illustrations from his early career and in his mature expressionistic work from the 1940s onwards. His fascination with the horse can be traced back to his upbringing in Sligo. Although not a horseman himself, horses were an integral part of his life there. As a boy, out of school hours, Yeats arranged donkey races, attended race meetings and saw the travelling circuses and the hunt. His early drawings of horses (the earliest of which was executed when he was just ten years old) illustrate them at races, fairs and out hunting. William Butler's The Ballad of the Foxhunt was his favourite poem. After his move to London in 1887, the horse came to serve as a reminder of home, symbolising for Yeats all that was free and unrestricted in his childhood.
The image of the horse also had a mythical link with his mother's maiden name, Pollexfen. Yeats propagated the idea that the name could be traced back to the classical figure of Pollux. It is therefore conceivable that he was inspired by the powerful equine imagery associated with his 'ancestors', Castor and Pollux who had 'power over the winds and waves ... and whenever they appeared to mortals, they came riding on white steeds' (see H. Pyle, 1970, op. cit., p. 4).
In The Whistle of a Jacket the defined lines of Yeats's early work are abandoned in favour of exuberantly applied paint which emphasises the painting's essential theme of unmitigated freedom. High impasto bears testimony to the fact that the act of painting itself was an emotional release for the artist. Yeats explained to Sir John Rothenstein: 'the painter always begins by expressing himself with line - that is, by the most obvious means; then he becomes aware that line, once so necessary, is in fact hemming him in, and as soon as he feels strong enough, he breaks out of its confines'. Hilary Pyle comments on The Whistle of a Jacket: 'The poetry of paint expresses all that could be desired, with a rich imagery of colour and of tone, and of lighting, of detail and of sheer dancing pigment' (see H. Pyle, 1970, op. cit., pp. 127 and 130).
Each time the viewer addresses The Whistle of a Jacket it is as if for the first time, such is the freshness of the image and spirit of the subject. The viewer is enchanted by the glorious optimism of the utopian dream that horse and rider represent, and by the artist's fantastical colours. George Russell (AE) wrote of Yeats's palette: 'we accept it as natural for this opalescence is always in the mist-laden air of the west; it enters the soul of the ancient Gael, who called it 'Ildathach' - the many coloured land; it becomes part of the atmosphere of the mind' (see H. Pyle, 1970, op cit, p. 165).
again for his pleasure - and for always - a moment, and because he is
impelled by his human affections to pass on the moment to his fellows
and those who came after him' (George Russell (AE), cited in H. Pyle, 1970, op. cit., p. 166).
Sheer physical and emotional liberation form the aesthetic touchstone of this powerful work. Yeats uses the image of a wildly galloping horse and jockey silhouetted against the horizon to record the transcendent state of ultimate freedom. He presents the viewer with a compelling image of the vivacious duo flying across the canvas in a moment of absolute physical and spiritual release.
The horse is a recurrent theme throughout Yeats's oeuvre, appearing in graphic illustrations from his early career and in his mature expressionistic work from the 1940s onwards. His fascination with the horse can be traced back to his upbringing in Sligo. Although not a horseman himself, horses were an integral part of his life there. As a boy, out of school hours, Yeats arranged donkey races, attended race meetings and saw the travelling circuses and the hunt. His early drawings of horses (the earliest of which was executed when he was just ten years old) illustrate them at races, fairs and out hunting. William Butler's The Ballad of the Foxhunt was his favourite poem. After his move to London in 1887, the horse came to serve as a reminder of home, symbolising for Yeats all that was free and unrestricted in his childhood.
The image of the horse also had a mythical link with his mother's maiden name, Pollexfen. Yeats propagated the idea that the name could be traced back to the classical figure of Pollux. It is therefore conceivable that he was inspired by the powerful equine imagery associated with his 'ancestors', Castor and Pollux who had 'power over the winds and waves ... and whenever they appeared to mortals, they came riding on white steeds' (see H. Pyle, 1970, op. cit., p. 4).
In The Whistle of a Jacket the defined lines of Yeats's early work are abandoned in favour of exuberantly applied paint which emphasises the painting's essential theme of unmitigated freedom. High impasto bears testimony to the fact that the act of painting itself was an emotional release for the artist. Yeats explained to Sir John Rothenstein: 'the painter always begins by expressing himself with line - that is, by the most obvious means; then he becomes aware that line, once so necessary, is in fact hemming him in, and as soon as he feels strong enough, he breaks out of its confines'. Hilary Pyle comments on The Whistle of a Jacket: 'The poetry of paint expresses all that could be desired, with a rich imagery of colour and of tone, and of lighting, of detail and of sheer dancing pigment' (see H. Pyle, 1970, op. cit., pp. 127 and 130).
Each time the viewer addresses The Whistle of a Jacket it is as if for the first time, such is the freshness of the image and spirit of the subject. The viewer is enchanted by the glorious optimism of the utopian dream that horse and rider represent, and by the artist's fantastical colours. George Russell (AE) wrote of Yeats's palette: 'we accept it as natural for this opalescence is always in the mist-laden air of the west; it enters the soul of the ancient Gael, who called it 'Ildathach' - the many coloured land; it becomes part of the atmosphere of the mind' (see H. Pyle, 1970, op cit, p. 165).