Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957)
The Talent (1944)
Oil on canvas, 35.5 x 46cm (14 x18'')
Signed

Provenance: Purchased by Lady Nelson, 1944, later with Lord Killanin c.1949/50 and Victor...

Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957)
The Talent (1944)
Oil on canvas, 35.5 x 46cm (14 x18'')
Signed

Provenance: Purchased by Lady Nelson, 1944, later with Lord Killanin c.1949/50 and Victor Waddington by 1970.

Exhibited: 'Jack B. Yeats: National Loan Exhibition', National College of Art Dublin, June/July 1945, Cat. No.153, where lent by Lady Nelson;
'Jack B. Yeats Exhibition', Waddington Galleries London, April/May 1971, Cat. No.12;
'Jack B. Yeats Centennial Exhibition', Coe Kerr Gallery New York, November 1971, Cat. No.7.

Literature: 'Jack B. Yeats' exhibition catalogue, London 1971, illustrated in colour; 'Jack B. Yeats Catalogue Raisonne of Oil Paintings' by Hilary Pyle, London 1992, Cat. No.661.

The Talent evokes a memorable performance in a Dublin playhouse. A strong shaft of white light beams down on to the diminutive figure of a woman. She sings into a large microphone and stands at one end of a large otherwise empty stage. Hilary Pyle has identified the venue as the Queens Theatre. Yeats had a fascination with performing and the theatre and several of his paintings focus on the performance and its impact on the audience. Yeats was himself a prolific playwright and compulsive theatre goer who rarely missed a production at any of Dublins theatres.

The stage setting and the distinctive appearance of the artiste, with her blonde hair and blue dress, is reminiscent of an earlier work, Singing the Minstrel Boy, (1923, Model, Sligo). But in The Talent the viewpoint takes in more of the interior of the auditorium and the audience. The form of the singer appears to dissolve beneath the powerful electric beam of the floodlight. This almost engulfs her, making her appear small and fragile. The stage is sketched out in thin blues and reds on a virtually bare canvas. Although loosely indicated by the broad strokes of paint, the audience, seated in the boxes, appear engrossed. They lean towards the performer or sit back in their seats. Their bodies contrast with the erect pose of the diva as she sings her song and mesmerises her public. While a figurative work of art, the painting has a strong abstract quality. Line and colour build up dramatic and complex contrasts between light and shade, and positive and negative form.

Dr Roisin Kennedy September 2016

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