Jack Butler Yeats
Yeats was born in London on 29 August 1871, son of the portrait painter and illustrator John Butler Yeats and brother to the poet William Butler Yeats. He resided with his maternal grandparents for much of his childhood at their home just outside of Sligo. At sixteen he returned to London and began to attend classes at South Kensington School of Art, and later attended Chiswick Art School, West London Art School and Westminster School of Art. Yeats started work as an illustrator in the late 1880s, providing drawings to The Vegetarian, the Daily Graphic, the Illustrated London News and many other publications in England, Ireland and America. Irish subject-matter was a major component of the artists oeuvre even at this early stage in his career, and he returned to the country regularly from London. His Irish works were very well-received, and in 1900 he mounted an exhibition entitled Sketches of Life in the West of Ireland and Elsewhere at the Leinster Hall. The success of the event prompted Yeats to exhibit a similar selection of works the following year at Walkers Galleries, 9 Merrion Row, Dublin before crowds of visitors. Further exhibitions of West of Ireland subjects followed and in 1912 he published a volume of forty drawings and paintings entitled Life in the West of Ireland. In 1910 Yeats moved from his home in Devon to reside at Red Ford House, Greystones, Co Wicklow. He began to submit works to the RHA annual exhibition and was elected RHA in 1916. He also joined the United Arts Club and later served on the committee. Along with Paul Henry and Clare Marsh, Yeats was one of the first members of the Society of Dublin Painters, which was founded in 1920. In that same year Sir John Lavery appointed him as one of the first ten members of the newly-formed Belfast Art Society. The 1920s also marked a dramatic change in the artists style as he turned away from the making of prints to focus instead on painting. In 1924 The Liffey Swim (NGI) won Yeats a silver medal at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris. Throughout the 1930s and 40s Yeats participated in numerous exhibitions internationally, including the Chicago Century of Progress Exposition in 1933. In 1939 he was appointed governor of the National Gallery of Ireland. The 1940s were very productive years for the artist, he is thought to have painted more than one hundred pictures a year at this period. He also exhibited extensively in Ireland and overseas. At the end of the decade he began to retire to Portobello House nursing home where he died in March 1957. Exhibitions followed his death in numerous venues throughout Ireland. In 1999 the Yeats Museum, a permanent collection of works by the artist, opened in the National Gallery of Ireland. His works can be found in many prominent institutions, including the Musee dArt Moderne, Paris and the Museum of Art, Washington DC.
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'THE STRAND RACES: THE START'
- Price Realised: 380
- Sale: 29 September 2014
- hand-coloured Cuala Press print
- 17 by 4.7in., 42.5 by 11.75cm.
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'A Broadside No. 8 Fourth Year, January 1912, and No. 6 Fifth Year, November 1912'
- Price Realised: 380
- Sale: 09 December 2006
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'THE NEW BALLAD SINGER'
- Price Realised: 360
- Sale: 13 December 2023
- hand-coloured Cuala press print; (unframed)
- 5 x 6Όin. (12.70 x 15.88cm)
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'THE NEW BALLAD SINGER'
- Price Realised: 360
- Sale: 10 July 2023
- hand-coloured Cuala press print
- 4Ύ x 6in. (12.07 x 15.24cm)
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'THE SHANACHIE and THE BALLAD SINGER (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 360
- Sale: 09 December 2018
- hand-coloured Cuala Press prints; (2)
- 7Ό x 5in. (18.42 x 12.70cm)
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'ILLUSTRATED HALF LETTER FROM JACK BUTLER YEATS TO THOMAS ARNOLD HARVEY, 27 JANUARY'
- Price Realised: 360
- Sale: 01 October 2012
- ink on embossed letterhead
- 9 by 7in., 23 by 18cm.
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'A BROADSIDE [ELEVEN ISSUES] and THE BALLAD SINGER'
- Price Realised: 350
- Sale: 24 October 2016
- A Broadside; (11); hand-coloured print; (1)
- 11½ x 9in. (29.21 x 22.86cm)
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'COME GATHER ROUND ME PARNELLITES, 1937 and THREE OTHER WORKS'
- Price Realised: 350
- Sale: 15 March 2010
- coloured prints; (4) (framed)
- 14 by 13cm., 5.5 by 5in.
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'A LITTLE FLEET'
- Price Realised: 350
- Sale: 15 December 2007
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'Padraic Colum, The Big Tree of Bunlahy: Stories of My Own Countryside, illustrated by Jack B.'
- Price Realised: 350
- Sale: 12 June 2005
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'George A. Birmingham, Irishmen All'
- Price Realised: 350
- Sale: 17 February 2004
- 0 by 0cm., by in.
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'A SHOP IN SAILOR TOWN'
- Price Realised: 340
- Sale: 13 December 2023
- hand-coloured Cuala Press print
- 5½ x 8in. (13.97 x 20.32cm)
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'J. M. Synge, The Aran Islands with Drawings by Jack B. Yeats'
- Price Realised: 340
- Sale: 28 March 2022
- 9Ό x 6 x 1Όin. (23½ x 15.24 x 3.18cm)
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'THE CAMELOPARD [A BROADSIDE]'
- Price Realised: 340
- Sale: 24 October 2016
- hand-coloured Cuala Press print
- 7Ό x 4Ύin. (18.42 x 12.07cm)
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'Patricia Lynch, The Turf-Cutter's Donkey, illustrated in colour by Jack B. Yeats'
- Price Realised: 340
- Sale: 09 December 2006
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'John M. Synge, The Aran Islands Maunsel & Co., Dublin, 1911'
- Price Realised: 340
- Sale: 16 September 2003
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'John M. Synge, In Wicklow, West Kerry and Connemara, Maunsell & Co. Dublin, 1911.'
- Price Realised: 340
- Sale: 29 April 2003
- 0 by 0cm., by in.
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'THE STRAND RACES: THE START'
- Price Realised: 320
- Sale: 01 July 2024
- hand-coloured Cuala Press print
- 5 x 17in. (12.70 x 43.18cm)
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'THE VILLAGE'
- Price Realised: 320
- Sale: 01 July 2024
- hand-coloured Cuala Press print
- 3½ x 13½in. (8.89 x 34.29cm)
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'FLEET STREET LONDON, 1909'
- Price Realised: 320
- Sale: 01 October 2018
- 6 x 9in. (15.24 x 22.86cm)
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'THE BALLAD SINGER, THE BOG ROAD and CHRIST'S COMING (SET OF 3)'
- Price Realised: 320
- Sale: 24 February 2014
- hand-coloured Cuala Press prints; (3); (framed)
- 8.5 by 6.25in., 21.25 by 15.625cm.
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'THE TURFCUTTER'S DONKEY by PATRICIA LYNCH and LIFE IN THE WEST OF IRELAND'
- Price Realised: 320
- Sale: 11 December 2011
- limited edition books
- 20 by 15cm., 8 by 6in.
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'A LAMENT FOR ART O'LEARY, 1940'
- Price Realised: 320
- Sale: 15 March 2010
- coloured prints; (6) (framed)
- 13 by 11cm., 5.25 by 4.25in.
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'ERNEST MARRIOTT, 'JACK B. YEATS: HIS PICTORIAL AND DRAMATIC ART'
- Price Realised: 320
- Sale: 18 May 2009
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'The Wren Boys'
- Price Realised: 320
- Sale: 12 June 2005
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'THE POSTCAR'
- Price Realised: 300
- Sale: 01 July 2024
- hand-coloured Cuala Press print
- 8½ x 12in. (21.59 x 30.48cm)
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'A SHOP IN SAILOR TOWN'
- Price Realised: 300
- Sale: 25 March 2024
- hand-coloured Cuala press print; (unframed)
- 5Ύ x 8in. (14.61 x 20.32cm)
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'EVENING'
- Price Realised: 300
- Sale: 25 March 2024
- hand-coloured Cuala Press print
- 8 x 12in. (20.32 x 30.48cm)