I was properly introduced to Yates by the artist Simon Fletcher. At school I had read the obligatory poem or two from his early collection 'The Wanderings of Oisin' (which I remember having contained totally unpronouncable Irish names), but the main armoury of his work only came to my attention in the late 60's/early 70's.
His 'Mythologies' (a Macmillan collection of 'short stories' published in 1959) is one of those books that I read time and again. It contains the wonderful Red Hanrahan and The Secret Rose stories (both from 1897). I recommend it to anyone interested in Irish folklore. I expect it's still available SBN 333 06780 0.
I chose the above portrait by John Singer Sargent (as an illustration) for two reasons. Firstly it's a good drawing. And secondly it demonstrates quite succinctly how close to 'slickness' Sargent could become; even his signature in the top right hand corner is studied, and mannered, in its execution. Being a 'slick' draughtman can be extremely destructive for an artist; one can very easily fall into the fatal trap of 'illustration'. Sargent is still regarded as a good journeyman portrait painter, but, on account of this unfortunate capacity, will never be seen as a 'great' artist.
Sargent's WBY portrait is the frontispiece for 'Mythologies', and I always think of the two works as being inseparable.
