A broad range of works by leading Irish artists will be up for auction next Wednesday on May 29th in our Important Irish Art sale, including pieces by Jack Butler Yeats, Walter Frederick Osborne, James Dixon, and Sean Keating. Also included are a number of bronze sculptures by John Behan, Patrick O’Reilly, and Frederick E. McWilliam.

Leading next week’s auction are two works by Jack Butler Yeats, with ‘The Squireen’ (lot 27) painted during the early stages of his prolific career, and ‘The Water Steps’ (lot 22) painted toward the end. The pair demonstrates his well-developed stylistic diversity, and the progression of his work. The note in our auction catalogue by Dr Róisín Kennedy reads as follows:

(Lot 27 – The Squireen) ‘This early watercolour by Jack B. Yeats depicts a young gentleman on horseback. Its title, ‘The Squireen’, suggests as Hilary Pyle has written, ‘a petty squire, of the type well known in Ireland at the time’. The little squire seems a derogatory or familiar term for this self-important figure. Yeats was aware of the social class structure of rural Ireland and its different categories of male citizenry provided him with a major source of subject matter, especially in his early work. Already at this early stage of his career as a fine art painter, Yeats shows himself to be a master of the representation of the horse and an astute portrayer of character. Painted in watercolour and gouache, the expansive sky is a complex evocation of a typical cloud filled Irish day. The clouds form delicate patterns that span the background, providing a dynamic setting for the figure. Thick white paint is evident around the legs of the steed suggestive of movement and of Yeats’s careful delineation of the animal’s body as it moves through space.’

(Lot 22 – The Water Steps) ‘This late Jack B. Yeats oil depicts a view of a quayside with a street scene in the upper level and the dark cool waters of the river and the grey stone walls of the quay below. Hilary Pyle thinks that the work relates to a memory of Yeats’s childhood which would make the town depicted, the Sligo of the artist’s youth. The bizarre inclusion of the horse and rider would also be more fitting to a country town than Dublin where Yeats lived for most of his life.  The work is sumptuously painted in rich colours and thick impasto. Yeats creates a complex surface with interacting passages of paint that convey the effect of light and shade on the visual and tactile perception of the built environment. The human figures and the horse seem to be just temporary intrusions into this space.’

Three works by Walter Frederick Osborne will also be on sale, showcasing his proficient versatility in handling different scenes and tonal ranges. Lot 16 (est.€120,000 – €160,000) is a leading work in this auction. In our auction catalogue, Julian Campbell writes:

‘‘Early Morning Markets, Quimperlé’ is an attractive Continental street scene, depicting several Breton figures at a small market. After completing his studies in Antwerp in 1883, Osbourne headed southwest to Brittany to paint ‘en plein air’.The textured brushwork and variety of delicate colours – blues, beige, white, pinks, greens, russets and ochres – bring the surface of the canvas alive. These tones, together with his meticulous Realist style, create a scene where a narrative element is present: the theme of youth and age, the ‘conversating piece’ between the woman at the stall and the youth looking on and reaching out his arm. This work is a companion piece to Osborne’s best known Breton painting ‘Apple Gathering, Quimperlé,’ set in the upper part of the town. Osborne rarely identified the location of his pictures, so the fact that he inscribed ‘Quimperlé’ on both pieces indicates the importance he attached to these paintings, and to their setting.’

(Lot 32 – Sheep in a Field) ‘Osborne spent much of the late 1880s in England painting village subjects, landscapes and farming scenes. He was enamoured with the subject of sheep and painted many pictures of flocks, sometimes with the shepherd present. ‘Sheep in a Field’ shows a small flock of black-faced animals grazing or resting in a pasture, one of them close to the viewer. He captures well the woolly coats and calm demeanour of the sheep. The burnished tones that the artist employs give the painting a warm rural feeling. It is a surprise then to see an embankment with railway line and telegraph poles cutting horizontally across the landscape behind the sheep in the middle distance. This seems like an intrusion upon the quiet, pastoral scene, though it adds an understated modern dimension to the picture. Osborne himself loved to travel by train, and was engaged with contemporary life, as well as being a lover of nature and tradition.’

(Lot 33 – Beached Rowing Boat and Figures by the Shore) Osborne's scene has echoes of small, intimate pictures of heath or quarries by earlier landscapists such as John Crome and William Mulready. English villages provided Osborne with interesting subject matter and also inspired a new palette in his paintings; the warm russets, oranges and maroon colours of brickwork and roof tiles, the browns of old woodwork, often heightened with sunlight. ‘Beached Rowing Boat and Figures by the Shore’ depicts a high, sloping riverbank upon which small rowing boats are moored. Observed against the light, the tones of the picture – dark maroons, plum colours, raw siennas, and dark blues – are subdued. But the sky is bright, covered by light cloud, with touches of blue sky breaking through. Osborne's brushwork is light but expressive, and a quiet sense of mystery is evoked through his handling of tone and by the two figures on either side of the scene – conversing with one another perhaps, or lost in their own thoughts.’

Viewings for the sale are in our St Stephen’s Green showroom as follows:

Friday 24^th May: 10am – 5pm
Saturday 25^th May: 2pm – 5pm
Sunday 26^th May: 2pm – 5pm
Monday 27^th May: 10am – 5pm
Tuesday 28^th May: 10am – 5pm
Wednesday 29^th May: 10am – 4pm

Please see our ‘Upcoming  Auctions’ page for more information on how to register, and to view the complete e-catalogue online.

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