Part 11 - Letter from Jack B. Yeats

A letter from Jack B. Yeats to Fr. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. conveying some notes regarding three of his paintings (‘Bachelor’s Walk, in Memory’, ‘The Funeral of Harry Boland’, and ‘Communicating with Prisoners’). Yeats notes that he found ‘it very hard to recall, in words, scenes which I registered with my eyes’. In reference to ‘Bachelor’s Walk, in Memory’ he writes ‘The flower girl threw the carnation with a quiet strong gesture without hurry. She slowed her steps and did not stop. I think the boy, though he was looking away toward the east[w]ard, saw, and understood, the event’. Yeats also recalls his personal impressions of the funeral of Harry Boland in Glasnevin Cemetery and his good fortune in witnessing the scene he depicted in ‘Communicating with Prisoners’. He concludes, ‘I believe events are events and passers by have the honour of passing by and should not forget it’.