Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957)Bound for the Islands (1952)Oil on board, 23 x 35.5cm (9 x 14'')Signed; inscribed with title versoProvenance: Purchased in 1953 by Mr & Mrs Nesbit Waddington at the Victor Waddington Galleries and thence by descent; Private Collection, Dublin. Literature: Hilary Pyle, Jack B. Yeats: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, 1992, Andre Deutch, Catalogue no. 115. This very late painting by Yeats, made when he was 80 years old, was bought directly from the Victor Waddington Galleries by Nesbit Waddington in 1953. It shows a sailor standing on a headland waving out to a boat on the sea below. His blue sou'wester hat and dark complexion lend him an exotic air, as if he himself has travelled far. The tiny toy-like boat is placed at the centre of the composition. Beyond it on the horizon are the ghostly forms of an island, its cliffs rising from the sea. Hilary Pyle has speculated that this may refer to the Aran Islands. The composition is similar to other late works such as The Circus has Come, (1952, Private Collection) and Many Ferries, (1948, National Gallery of Ireland), which also show an isolated figure looking down at an expanse of water. The dramatic rupture between the foreground and background of the painting introduces a sense of ambiguity. It is as if the sea, island and boat belong to a realm of fantasy or memory. The meeting of the sea and sky and the predominance of pale blue and white is suggestive of open space and of a place where the imagination holds sway. The boat and its occupants, bound for the islands, may refer to those who are free to depart to new horizons while the sailor, like much of humanity, bids them well but remains behind. Dr. Roisin Kennedy