Beschreibung:

Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957) The Birds are on the Move (1955) Oil on board, 23 x 35.5cm (9 x 14'') Signed Exhibited: 'Jack B. Yeats: Centenary Exhibition' The Waddington Galleries London Catalogue No. 28 where purchased by Ambassador de Keller. Provenance: Remained in the Waddington family collection until 1971. Sold at the 1971 exhibition, to Guy de Keller, Swiss Ambassador to Ireland, and thence by descent. Ambassador and Madame Guy de Keller arrived in Ireland in March 1967 and stayed here till 1972 . They bought a number of works by Yeats from different periods as well as other Irish paintings including work by Roderic OConor. The other work by Yeats in the de Keller collection inscribed "Dublin Pavement Artist" (1917) and "The Sisters" (1944) which they lent to the 1971 Centenary Exhibition at the National Gallery of Ireland. Literature: Jack B. Yeats exhibition catalogue London 1971 illustrated in colour; Jack B. Yeats Catalogue Raisonne of his oil paintings by Hilary Pyle Cat. No. 1187 Vol II page 1086 This small Sligo landscape is one of the last works that Jack B. Yeats painted. It was completed in September 1955, eighteen months before his death, according to his studio records. The painting shows two figures looking into the distance. One stands on the extreme left and the other is the middle ground, half reclining, perched on a boulder or tree stump. These are literally moulded out of paint and as a result are almost indistinguishable from their surroundings. Their forms and the expressive use of paint transform what is a very conventional composition into a puzzling and contemporary work of art that invites the viewer to scrutinize its surface with close attention. A dark cloud in the sky to the left suggests a flock of birds departing for the winter. Hilary Pyle describes the work as introducing an element of metaphorical poetry. The placid stance of the figures set against the unfolding vista of land and sea evoke the power of nature and the insignificance of humankind. Yeatss poetic title, Birds on the Move, refers to the passing of time and the continuous cycle of the seasons, and adds to the sense of the transitory nature of life. Dr Roisin Kennedy May 2016