PYLE, Hilary. [YEATS, Jack B.] Jack B. Yeats. A Catalogue Raisonné, of The Oil Paintings by Hilary Pyle.

Profusely illustrated with colour and black & white illustrations. Three volumes. London: Deutsch, 1992. First. pp. lxxxi, 524. Large quarto. Green cloth, titled in gilt. Edition limited to 1,550 numbered copies, of which 1,500 are for sale. Fine in slipcase.

Hilary Pyle, the world's leading authority on Jack B. Yeats and his art, has worked for almost thirty years on this, the definitive catalogue of his oil paintings. Volumes one & two contain the author's scholarly introduction and the catalogue. Volume three contains the plates with 111 in colour and 713 in black and white. Essential for serious collectors or students of Yeats' work.

The definitive cartography of Yeats’s painted world, the ground on which scholarship, curatorship, and the market now securely stand. Pyle organises the oils chronologically and thematically, recording for each work the title (and variants), medium, dimensions, inscriptions, exhibition history, provenance, and literature. Careful cross-references thread together reworkings, related compositions, and preparatory material, while succinct commentaries place key canvases within the artist’s evolving practice—from early narrative scenes and Sligo recollections to the late visionary surfaces where colour and gesture carry thought.

Its authority rests on method: meticulous archival labour, first-hand examination, and consultation with collectors, dealers, and institutions. Generous plates—many in colour—permit close comparison across periods; appendices provide concordances, bibliography, and indices indispensable to researchers. For conservators and dealers, notes on materials, dating, and signatures aid authentication and condition analysis; for curators and students, the chronology anchors exhibition planning and teaching.

Beyond utility, Pyle restores narrative coherence to Yeats’s achievement. Persistent motifs—travellers, circuses, boats, racecourses—are traced across decades, revealing how memory and observation continually reform his pictorial language. Provenance pathways are clarified, illuminating how celebrated works moved through private and public hands and where questions remain. As a reference, the catalogue is unsurpassed: a touchstone cited in catalogues, saleroom notes, and museum labels alike. For anyone engaged with Irish art—collector, librarian, scholar—Pyle’s raisonné remains the essential companion for understanding, identifying, and valuing the oil paintings of Jack B. Yeats.