The Friendly Well
35.9 cms x 45.7 cms (14.12 ins x 18 ins)
Signed and on verso titled and inscribed "1183"
Lot offered for sale by Heffel, Vancouver at the auction event "May Live Auction 2018, Toronto Live auction" held on Wed, May 30, 2018.
Lot 148
Lot 148
Estimate: CAD $100,000 - $150,000
Realised: CAD $229,249
Realised: CAD $229,249
Lot description - from the online catalogue*
Provenance:
Waddington Galleries, Montreal
Acquired from the above by the present Private Collection, Montreal, 1963
Exhibitions:
London, 1953
New York, 1962
Literature:
Hilary Pyle, Jack B. Yeats: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, Volume 2, 1992, reproduced page 1023, catalogue #1121
Notes:
In his later years, Jack Butler Yeats moved from highly accomplished illustrative works towards an expressionist style that was to define his career and make him, today, one of Ireland’s most celebrated artists. As he built on the energy of his earlier works, his paintings from his last decade became increasingly loose and expressionistic. In this fascinating work from 1952, the paint is applied so thickly with the brush and palette knife (perhaps even directly from the tube) that it takes concentrated observation to distinguish the main subject, the woman in the centre and the well nearby. The title, The Friendly Well, may be a reference to one of his brother’s plays, At the Hawk’s Well, which is set on a desolate mountainside by a dried-up well that is guarded by a hawk-like woman. The well could also be seen as a metaphor for the font of all Irish mythology. Yeats had become increasingly interested in the mythology of his Irish roots, and he drew inspiration from deeply ingrained memories of his land and people when creating these dream-like compositions.
This work is accompanied by a photo-certificate of authenticity signed by Victor Waddington in London, November 9, 1978.
Waddington Galleries, Montreal
Acquired from the above by the present Private Collection, Montreal, 1963
Exhibitions:
London, 1953
New York, 1962
Literature:
Hilary Pyle, Jack B. Yeats: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, Volume 2, 1992, reproduced page 1023, catalogue #1121
Notes:
In his later years, Jack Butler Yeats moved from highly accomplished illustrative works towards an expressionist style that was to define his career and make him, today, one of Ireland’s most celebrated artists. As he built on the energy of his earlier works, his paintings from his last decade became increasingly loose and expressionistic. In this fascinating work from 1952, the paint is applied so thickly with the brush and palette knife (perhaps even directly from the tube) that it takes concentrated observation to distinguish the main subject, the woman in the centre and the well nearby. The title, The Friendly Well, may be a reference to one of his brother’s plays, At the Hawk’s Well, which is set on a desolate mountainside by a dried-up well that is guarded by a hawk-like woman. The well could also be seen as a metaphor for the font of all Irish mythology. Yeats had become increasingly interested in the mythology of his Irish roots, and he drew inspiration from deeply ingrained memories of his land and people when creating these dream-like compositions.
This work is accompanied by a photo-certificate of authenticity signed by Victor Waddington in London, November 9, 1978.
Most realised prices include the Buyer's Premium of 18-25%, but not the HST/GST Tax.
(*) Text and/or Image might be subject matter of Copyright. Check with Heffel auction house for permission to use.
(*) Text and/or Image might be subject matter of Copyright. Check with Heffel auction house for permission to use.