Jack B. Yeats
, Irish, 1871-1957
Title
Old WallsDate1945
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
46 x 61 cm
Signedlower right: Jack B Yeats
Credit LineHeritage Gift, Mr and Mrs John Morrissey, 2003
Object numberNGI.4716
DescriptionProvenancePurchased by Samuel Courtauld, 1946; Heritage Gift, Mr and Mrs John Morrissey, 2003Exhibition HistoryJack B. Yeats Oil Paintings, Wildenstein, London, 1946
Society of Scottish Artists 52nd Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1946
Jack B. Yeats Loan Exhibition, Temple Newsam House, Leeds; Tate Gallery, London, 1948
Samuel Beckett: a Passion for Paintings, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 15 June 2006 - 17 September 2006
Jack B. Yeats: Selected Works from the Niland Collection, Sligo, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 8 March 2008 - 30 November 2008
Taking Stock: Acquisitions 2000-2010, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 13 March 2010 - 25 July 2010
Label TextIn old age, Yeats painted several works of this kind, in which a solitary, elderly figure appears to wander in familiar territory. It seems reasonable to imagine that such figures, aged and reflective, represent the artist himself, revisiting places or past experiences and pondering his current circumstances. Both the title and image might be taken as metaphors for an individual’s confrontation of the inevitable advance of time. Yeats had for many years enjoyed exploring the world of memory for its emotional and material content.