Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957)
A Lament for Art O'Leary (1940)
A set of six illustrations, pen and ink, variously sized 14 x 18.4cm up to 20 x 16cm (5½ x 7¼'' to 7¾ x 6¼'')
Variously...

Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957)
A Lament for Art O'Leary (1940)
A set of six illustrations, pen and ink, variously sized 14 x 18.4cm up to 20 x 16cm (5½ x 7¼'' to 7¾ x 6¼'')
Variously signed, signed with monogram and with monogram stamp;
Together with a 2nd edition, Cuala Press. A Lament for Art O'Leary. Translated from the Irish by Frank O'Connor, with six illustrations by Jack. B. Yeats RHA. Reprint, 1971, for the Irish University Press, T.M. MacGlinchey Publisher, Robert Hogg Printer

Provenance: With Theo Waddington, Irish Art Project.

Literature: Hilary Pyle, The Different Worlds of Jack B. Yeats, Irish Academic Press, 1994, Catalogue No.1474, illustrated p.203, 204 and 205.

 

Jack B. Yeatss illustrations to the Lament for Art OLeary are among his most expressive and memorable drawings. Cuala Press brought out a limited edition of 130 copies of Frank OConnors translation of the 18th century poem in 1940 for which Yeats supplied six pen and ink illustrations. These were hand-coloured by Eileen Colum and Kathleen Banfield of the Cuala Press in the printed edition.

 

The poem is the celebrated Lament of Eileen OConnell composed in Irish for the wake of her husband Art OLeary who was murdered on the orders of the local magistrate Abraham Morris in 1773. OLeary came from a landed Catholic family and served as a captain in the Hussars of the Austro-Hungarian army. The couple lived in Rathleigh House, near Macroom, Co. Cork. Eileen was of the OConnell family of Derrynane, Co. Kerry and an aunt of the future politician, Daniel OConnell. Preserved orally for generations, her Lament is one of the last manifestations of the bardic poems of Gaelic Ireland.

 

Frank OConnor in his introduction to the poem, writes that the lament comes from a world where the mind has no yesterday and no tomorrow. Yeatss drawings capture the despair and grief of Eileen as she mourns the violent death of her young husband. She searches for his body, grieves for him and buries his corpse. Yeats does not illustrate specific lines but creates a parallel vision of the tale in his epic pen and ink images. OConnor described them as noble drawings and they evoke the elegance and graciousness of the aristocratic heritage of the protagonists as well as the dramatic scenery of the Boggeragh mountains near Macroom where the events take place.

 

The first illustration depicts OLeary on his horse, galloping in the mountainy landscape of north Cork. He cuts an impressive figure, despite his evident youth. Holding his riding crop aloft, he wears a military style jacket and elegant hat, a reference to his status as an officer in the Austrian army. His silver hilted sword is prominently displayed. Arts swaggering pose, which antagonised Morris, is mirrored by that of his horse who holds its head and neck erect adding to the noble demeanour of its young rider.

 

This image is contrasted by the next illustration of Eileen walking upright and proudly with her two sons. The infant is tied by a shawl to her shoulders while his brother walks beside her. Behind them are high mountains and little cottages. The isolation of the widow and children after OLearys death is emphasised in the lament where Eileen notes that there hangs no throng of mourners as disease has decimated the people and prevented their attendance.

 

The third illustration shows OLearys horse standing at the gateway with its saddle empty. The bay mares return without its mount alerted Eileen to the fate of her husband and prompted her to search for him. One of the most impressive and unusual illustrations is that of Eileen on horseback as she goes in pursuit of OLeary. Her locks runs wild, her arms are astray and her face and hair become subsumed into the surrounding sky. The rearing horse accentuates the wildness of her emotions. The treatment of the image encapsulates the inner grief and turmoil as expressed in the lines On me is the grief

Theres no cure for in Munster.

Till Art OLeary rise

This grief will never yield

Thats bruising all my heart,

Yet shut up fast in it.

It also refers to the anger and vengefulness that Eileen expresses towards Morris, the man responsible for OLearys death, who is referred to as the bandy-legged monster, May he rot and his children.

 

In the last two illustrations Eileen is shown grieving over the body of her husband and carrying his coffin to be buried in the deserted cemetery of Cill na Martra. In the former, she finds OLearys badly injured body where it had fallen from the horse at Carrignanimma. She kneels over the corpse, blood pouring from her hands. To the right the strange form of a standing stone, covered by OLearys jacket, looks like a shroud or a spirit, suggestive of the reverberations of this violent death. The sweet expression of the womans face is contrasted by the contorted and ravaged features of the cadaver below her. The horse grazing in the background and the surrounding lush vegetation refer to the continuity of natural life, now lost forever to OLeary.

 

In the final illustration Eileen carries her husbands coffin to an isolated cemetery surrounded by high mountains. Her body is contorted under the weight of the casket, her physique turned into a sinuous line expressive of sorrow. The empty scene of a young woman burying her dead in a remote landscape recalls imagery and accounts of the Great Famine. Visually it links the end of the Gaelic nobility to the next cataclysmic event in Irish history.

 

The darkness of the Lament and the imagery it evokes is mitigated by the subtle manner by which Yeats has drawn the illustrations. Strong thick strokes of ink are counteracted by delicate hatching lines that convey shadow and movement, resulting in lively fluid drawings that exude energy and vigour. Yeats conveys a version of Eileens story that works independently of the text, offering the reader a visual sequence that is vivacious and contemporary.

 

Róisín Kennedy May 2019

 

 

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