YEATS, Jack B. The Market Group by Jack Butler Yeats, pencil sketch, depicting a group of five men gathered together,

Approx. 13cms x 10cms (5” x 4”). Framed and glazed, with green mount in Hogarth type frame.

This lively pencil sketch belongs to the world that Jack Butler Yeats (1871–1957) returned to throughout his career: markets, fairs, race meetings, and other gatherings where ordinary people became the principal actors in his art. Although modest in scale, the drawing displays the economy of line and instinctive observation that characterise Yeats’s graphic work. A few rapid strokes are sufficient to suggest gesture, posture, and the social interaction of the figures, while the unfinished quality preserves the immediacy of the artist’s first response to the scene. Such studies were often the foundation of larger compositions and provide valuable insight into Yeats’s working process.
The provenance adds particular interest. The drawing was included in The Yeats Family, The Final Chapter, sold by Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers in November 2017, a landmark dispersal of material descending through the Yeats family. Works from that sale attracted considerable attention from collectors and institutions alike, and family provenance offers a direct connection to one of the most important artistic and literary dynasties in modern Irish culture. A charming and authentic example of Yeats’s observational draftsmanship, capturing with characteristic vitality a fleeting moment of communal life.

Provenance: The Yeats Family - The Final Chapter, Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers, November 2017.

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