JOHN BUTLER YEATS | TWO SKETCHBOOKS

The Artist, thence by family descent

The present sketchbooks date from the artist's time in New York, where Yeats travelled to in 1907 with his daughter Lolly on a return ticket. Yeats could not be persuaded to leave, however, immersing himself in the Irish-American community, where, in the words of the American painter John Sloan, he was regarded as 'philosopher-king'. As was his life-time practice, he was constantly sketching and the present books contain numerous portrait sketches, including one self-portrait. One sketchbook contains 25 sheets, the other 24 sheets.