Jack B Yeats RHA (1871-1957) 'Man in a Train Thinking' Oil on canvas, 46 x 61cm (18 x 24'') Signed Provenance: Previously in the collection of well known collector Terence de Vere White, private...

Jack B Yeats RHA (1871-1957) 'Man in a Train Thinking' Oil on canvas, 46 x 61cm (18 x 24'') Signed Provenance: Previously in the collection of well known collector Terence de Vere White, private collection. Exhibited: * 'Jack B Yeats' exhibition, The Tooth Gallery, London, March-April 1928, Cat No. 14. * The Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, 1929, Cat No. 27. * 'Jack B Yeats - Later Work' exhibition, Contemporary Picture Galleries, Oct-Nov 1941, Cat No. 8 where purchased by Terence de Vere White. *'Jack B Yeats - National Loan Exhibition', National College of Art, Dublin, June-July 1945, Cat No. 60. * 'Society of Scottish Artists 52nd Exhibition', Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, Spring 1946, Cat No. 147. * 'Jack B Yeats Loan Exhibtion', Temple Newsam House, Leeds, June-Aug 1948. * 'Jack B Yeats Loan Exhibition', The Tate Gallery, London, August-September 1948, Cat No. 11. This exhibition was organised by the Arts Council of Great Britain and travelled on to the Aberdeen Art Gallery and Edinburgh, Royal Scottish Academy. * 'Jack B Yeats - A Selection of Paintings' exhibition, Sligo County Library and Museum, August-September 1960, Cat No. 19. * 'Jack B Yeats - Loan Collection' exhibition presented by Sligo Arts Society, The Town Hall, Sligo, August 1961, Cat No. 56. * 'Jack B Yeats - A Centenary Exhibition', The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, September - December 1971, Cat No. 47. * 'Jack B Yeats - A Centenary Exhibition', The Cultural Center, New York, April-June 1972, Cat No. 47. Literature: Hilary Pyle, 'Jack B Yeats' - a catalogue raisonn? of the oil paintings Vol I No. 349, page 317 - full page black and white illustration Vol III, page 146. (Copy note from Hilary Pyle) Hilary Pyle has written : Yeats told a story about Man in a Train Thinking at the Royal Hibernian Academy dinner in 1929, reported in the Irish Times (17th April 1929). Travelling from Dublin to the West of Ireland, he said, he watched a man in the corner of the carriage, who had a woebegone expression, and whose coat and collar were buttoned up to his ears. He looked so wan and sad that the artist said to him: 'Are you ill? Can I do anything to help you?' No sir, thank you,' replied the man. 'You see, it's like this, sir,' he continued. 'I bought a ticket for the Calcutta Sweepstake for a pound note. Then I sold it to a man for two pounds. And now that ticket has won a prize for a hundred thousand,' and he sighed dolefully. 'Great heavens,' exclaimed Mr Yeats, 'if that had happened to me I'd have cut my throat,' and then, to the artist's consternation, his sickly-looking fellow-traveller moaned, 'That's just what I have done sir!' The dark colours of the railway carriage, and the man's pale face, are lit by the yellow-green through the window from the corridor. Contemplative figures of this kind become more common during the 40s (617, 925, etc.), often involving groups of people (663), and in the 50s tend to esotericism, as A Man with a Secret (1169).

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