WHYTE'S IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART 6 JUNE 2022 AT 6PM

52 Little Sister of the Gang is set in Fitzwilliam Square in Dublin where Jack B. Yeats lived from 1929 until shortly before his death in 1957. The tall facades of the Georgian buildings dominate the background of the composition. Their static forms are thinly painted in red and black. The dark shadow of the façade to the south makes a blue and red border of colour on the right-hand side of the painting, closing off the composition and keenly suggesting the topography of this part of the city. To the left the trees of the central park create a contrasting block of fluctuating contours. Beneath their branches a group of children cavort. They are painted in thick impasto and the solidity of their forms contrast with their ethereal nature of their surroundings. Two of the gang climb the railings of the park, which was closed to non-residents. The four boys carry toy guns and their unruly behaviour suggests other violent adult incursions into the city of Dublin in previous decades. One of the boys holds the hand of a young child, presumably his sister. She has blonde hair and wears a long blue dress. She stands still as though she is not yet certain of her ability to walk alone. Her steady pose contrasts with the dynamic poses of her companions. This female figure recalls other such little girls in Yeats paintings, such as The Belle of Chinatown, (1943, Private Collection) where a young child stands in a darkened New York street. More usually Yeats’s work features a golden- haired boy, sometimes thought to have an affinity with the Christ child. The delicacy and vulnerability of the little girl and the obvious care with which she is treated by her brother, whose body is bent over so that he can be at the same level as her, belies the apparent waywardness of the group. Yeats may have seen such a sight from the windows of his home or on his walks through the area. The large buildings and empty space of the square evoke the isolation of the children and their separation from the rest of society. But they are presented as engrossed in their play acting, oblivious to the injustices of the adult world, and able to delight in their imagination. Dr Róisín Kennedy May 2022 Location of the scene in the painting, May 2022.