Beschreibung:

Artist: Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957) Title: Spring Tide, Schull (1919) Signature: signed 'Jack B Yeats' lower right Medium: oil on board Size: 23.40 x 36.20cm (9.2 x 14.3in) Framed Size: 0 x 0cm (0 x 0in) Provenance: Victor Waddington Galleries, 1942; James Adam Dublin, 2nd July 1987; James Adam & Bonhams, 29 May 2002, Lot 22; Private Collection Exhibited: 1922 Dublin (1) Literature: Jack B. Yeats - A Catalogue Raisonne of the Oil Paintings, by Hilary Pyle: Volume I: No. 125 page 110, illustrated. a#morebtn { color: #de1d01; } a#morebtn:hover { cursor: pointer;} In 1915, with World War One at its height, Jack Butler Yeats and his wife Cottie made the first of two trips to Skibbereen and Schull; the second visit took place four years later. Of the sketches made during the first visit, it seems that only one, ... Read more In 1915, with World War One at its height, Jack Butler Yeats and his wife Cottie made the first of two trips to Skibbereen and Schull; the second visit took place four years later. Of the sketches made during the first visit, it seems that only one, The Old Ass, was translated into an oil painting. This is surprising, given the number of sketches Yeats made as he travelled, but can be linked to a nervous breakdown he suffered not long after his return to Dublin. It was a profound crisis and loss of confidence, probably sparked by the Rising of Easter 1916. However, three years later, Yeats had recovered, and the second visit he and Cottie made to West Cork, in 1919, resulted in a wonderful series of paintings, all on wood panels measuring 9" x 14". These were panels that the artist probably carried with him, in a specially designed case, as he travelled. The paintings from this Skibbereen/Schull series, listed in Hilary Pyle's catalogue raisonné, include Clear Island, Lake Near Skibbereen, Near Schull, Schull, Castle Near Skibbereen, Roaring Water, Low Tide, and The Bridge, Skibbereen. The painting Spring Tide, Schull forms part of this group. All date from 1919 and were included in Dublin exhibitions in the early 1920's.The first work listed above depicts the island of Cape Clear, while the last, a view of horses grazing beside the bridge on the Ilen river, is now in the collection of the Irish Museum of Modern Art. The tower house depicted in Castle Near Skibbereen is not at Lough Hyne, but rather another of the O'Driscoll strongholds around Roaringwater Bay-Old Court, on the river between Skibbereen and Baltimore. The title of another work from this 1919 series, Flowing Tide, Inishbeg, Near Skibbereen, depicts a scene close to Old Court and hints that Yeats visited the home of the McCarthy-Morrogh family at Inishbeg; a house that four decades later would be rented by the American artist Morris Graves A tenth painting from this trip, Long Island Sound, Schull depicts islands in Roaringwater Bay, while a later work, The Sleeping Tinker, dated to 1921, can also be linked to this series, as it also bears the alternative title 'Skibbereen'. In the titles of practically all his views of the West Cork coastline, Yeats includes mention of tidal conditions-as in 'Spring', 'low' and 'flowing'. He was a keen sailor, delighting in any opportunity to explore the islands of Roaringwater Bay, and so would have noted the conditions of time and tide that affect all aspects of navigation amongst Carbery's 'Hundred Isles'. Delighted with Skibbereen, Yeats wrote to his friend and patron, the lawyer John Quinn, in New York, describing his visit: There was good painting ground near to the town. All the creeks and islands of the bay were delightful. You remember 'Carbery's hundred isles' in the ballad? I used to look up in the map for where there was a quay marked and walk there; and nearly every little creek had a quay at the creek-head. Though we had not a boat at this time. The distances from Skibbereen were too gre