WHYTE'S in association with CHRISTIE'S - The Ernie O'Malley Collection MONDAY 25 November 2019

52 46 In the middle of the 1920s, Jack B. Yeats’ style underwent a dramatic transformation. Speaking with Sir John Rothenstein, he described this shift as a ‘psychological happening,’ which allowed him to break through the strict confines of the graphic line that had hitherto dominated his art, and instead embrace a freer, and more idiosyncratic approach to colour and form. 1 His brushstrokes became bolder, his application of paint loose and agitated, resulting in an increasingly fractured pictorial surface marked by passages of thick impasto. At the same time his palette shifted away from naturalistic tones – colour was liberated from its traditionally descriptive function and instead became a means of articulating a particular emotional condition or atmosphere. In this way, Yeats embraced an Expressionist idiom in his art, using his painting as means of channelling the inner feelings, experiences and memories of the artist directly on to the canvas, to create visceral, thought-provoking works of art. However, debates continue to rage as to whether this dramatic turn occurred spontaneously, or was influenced and inspired by contemporary art from Germany and Austria, which Yeats was familiar with through books, periodicals, exhibitions, and personal acquaintance with avant-garde artists. Despite his later reputation as an artist who worked in complete isolation, Yeats had always been a well-informed and enthusiastic follower of the international art scene, keeping abreast of different painterly trends and the work of new, promising artists in both Europe and America. He had exhibited in London, Paris and New York, most famously at the 1913 Armory Show alongside Picasso, Duchamp and Matisse, and would make time to explore public museums and commercial galleries during trips to these cities. For example, during a visit to London in 1924, he reportedly visited ‘every picture exhibition now on show’ in the city. 2 Though exhibitions of Expressionist art were less frequent in Britain at this time than those dedicated to the French avant- garde, Yeats would no doubt have been aware of certain figures and personalities, as is evidenced by the presence of exhibition catalogues dedicated to James Ensor in the artist’s personal library. However, it is the intense psychological portraits and landscapes of the Viennese artist, Oskar Kokoschka, which have been most frequently connected to the dramatic evolution of Yeats’ style. Though the two artists enjoyed a close friendship and frequent correspondence during the 1940s and 50s, with Kokoschka visiting Yeats several times during the final decade of his life, it remains uncertain when and how they first became acquainted with one another. According to Kokoschka’s widow, Olda, it was the gallerist Victor Waddington who first introduced the pair in the early 1950s, over two decades after the emergence of Yeats’mature painterly style, though doubts have been raised about her account. 3 In contrast, Bruce Arnold has suggested that the pair may have first encountered one another at the Race Congress in Paris during the early months of 1922, 4 while others have suggested the pair met in London during the middle of the decade, perhaps introduced by a mutual acquaintance, as they socialised in similar intellectual and artistic circles at the time. However, it is Kokoschka’s journey to Ireland during the summer of 1928 that has intrigued scholars most as the potential origin of their friendship. Travelling in the company of the acclaimed architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, Kokoschka spent several weeks touring Killarney and Connemara, before travelling on to Dublin, where he was the guest of Adolf Mahr, then head of the Department of Irish Antiquity at the National Museum of Ireland. According to Patricia Boylan, the Irish painter Harry Kernoff recalled that the visiting artist was entertained at the ‘Fantastic imagination and individuality’: Jack B. Yeats and Oskar Kokoschka Jack B. Yeats & Oskar Kokoschka, at The Victor Waddington Gallery, 8 South Anne Street Dublin. Photographer unknown. This photograph is featured in the exhibition catalogue Jack B. Yeats: Amongst Friends, at the Douglas Hyde Gallery, 9th Sept - 14th October 2004, p. 18