Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957) Good Evening Men (1950) Oil on canvas, 23 x 35.5cm (18 x 24'') Signed Provenance: From the collection of Mr & Mrs Nebit Waddington and thence by descent to the...

Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957) Good Evening Men (1950) Oil on canvas, 23 x 35.5cm (18 x 24'') Signed Provenance: From the collection of Mr & Mrs Nebit Waddington and thence by descent to the current owner Exhibited: 1951 Jack B. Yeats Exhibition, Victor Waddington Galleries, cat. no. 11 1957 Jack B. Yeats- Memorial Exhibition, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, cat. no. 88 1967 Jack B. Yeats Exhibition, Victor Waddington Gallery, London, Sept/Oct cat. no. 25 1972 From Yeats to Ballagh, Lund Kensthall, April-May, cat. no. 56 Literature: From Yeats to Ballagh, Lund Kensthall, April-May, cat. no. 1026 This humorous painting was Mrs Sidney Waddington's favourite work and according to her husband Nesbitt it depicted a foreman who has climbed up the ladder to find the workers slacking and playing cards in the hayloft. It shows an elderly man peering through a doorway and may have been inspired by a memory of such an incident. The sides of the ladder are visible as are the inner walls of the barn, painted in dark red and blue which frame the composition and indicate the interior darkness of the building. Behind the man a wild landscape and stormy sky unfolds suggestive of the West of Ireland. The effects of the changing light and the blustery weather is indicated by the vigorous way in which the paint has been applied, particularly in the sky. Below to the left a man with a horse and cart wait for their companion to return. The old man in his hat is a recurring feature of Yeats's later work. His weathered face created out of strong red and purple on bare canvas indicates a life spent out of doors. Often in Yeats's paintings one sees two such figures greeting each other in an open landscape. Here we, the viewers, take the place of the old man's companions. It is as if the figure has climbed out of the painting to greet us, bringing us playfully into an engagement with the work. Dr. R?is?n Kennedy April 2012

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