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 FIRST TIME ROUND'
- Price Realised: 300
- Sale: 14 June 2021
- handcoloured Cuala press print
- 5Ό x 7in. (13.34 x 17.78cm)
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'THE CAMELOPARD'
- Price Realised: 300
- Sale: 05 October 2020
- hand-coloured Cuala Press print; (mounted but unframed)
- 7Ό x 5in. (18.42 x 12.70cm)
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'THE MOUNTAIN FARM and THE VILLAGE (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 300
- Sale: 11 December 2011
- hand-coloured Cuala Press prints; (2)
- 9 by 34cm., 3.5 by 13.5in.
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'STONE WALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE'
- Price Realised: 300
- Sale: 30 November 2009
- lithograph printed in colour
- 14 by 58cm., 5.5 by 22.7 5in.
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'AN OLD SLAVE'
- Price Realised: 300
- Sale: 17 May 2008
- hand coloured Cuala Press print
- 18 by 13cm., 7 by 5in.
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'George A. Birmingham, Irishmen All'
- Price Realised: 300
- Sale: 27 May 2006
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'Seamas O'Kelly, The Weaver's Grave, Talbot Press, Dublin, n.d. [1922]'
- Price Realised: 300
- Sale: 16 September 2003
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'THE VILLAGE'
- Price Realised: 290
- Sale: 13 December 2023
- hand-coloured Cuala Press print
- 4Ό x 14Όin. (10.80 x 36.20cm)
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'PIG JOBBERS'
- Price Realised: 290
- Sale: 09 December 2018
- 5Ύ x 3Ύin. (14.61 x 9.53cm)
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'George A. Birmingham, Irishmen All, T. N. Foulis, London & Edinburgh, 1913'
- Price Realised: 290
- Sale: 16 September 2003
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'HAPPY NEW YEAR CARD, 1952'
- Price Realised: 280
- Sale: 01 July 2024
- lithograph; (unframed)
- 3Ό x 5Όin. (8.26 x 13.34cm)
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'HAUL SANDS'
- Price Realised: 280
- Sale: 09 December 2012
- watercolour over pencil
- 3.5 by 4.75in., 8.89 by 12.065cm.
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'FAIR DAY'
- Price Realised: 280
- Sale: 11 December 2011
- Cuala Press print
- 12 by 18cm., 4.75 by 7in.
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'George A. Bermingham, Irishmen All'
- Price Realised: 280
- Sale: 19 November 2002
- 0 by 0cm., by in.
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'A FOUR OARED CURRACH'
- Price Realised: 270
- Sale: 10 July 2023
- 4Ό x 3Ύin. (10.80 x 9.53cm)
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'THE POST CAR'
- Price Realised: 270
- Sale: 14 June 2021
- hand-coloured Cuala Press print
- 8Ό x 12in. (20.96 x 30.48cm)
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'THE CUTTLE-FISH'
- Price Realised: 260
- Sale: 03 April 2017
- coloured print
- 6 x 3Ύin. (15.24 x 9.53cm)
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'Thomas MacGreevy, Jack B. Yeats: An Appreciation and An Interpretation'
- Price Realised: 260
- Sale: 12 June 2005
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'THE NEW BALLAD'
- Price Realised: 254
- Sale: 26 June 2000
- handcoloured Cuala Press woodcut
- 8 by 15cm., 3 by 6in.
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'THE FIDDLER'
- Price Realised: 250
- Sale: 13 December 2023
- hand-coloured Cuala Press print; (unframed)
- 6 x 4½in. (15.24 x 11.43cm)
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'THE NEW BALLAD'
- Price Realised: 250
- Sale: 06 December 2008
- handcoloured Cuala Press print
- 22 by 16cm., 8.5 by 6.25in.
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'FOR THE ROADS, 1951 [THE FRIENDS OF ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL]'
- Price Realised: 240
- Sale: 18 October 2021
- photoprint; (no. 1749 from an edition of 3000)
- 12½ x 18½in. (31Ύ x 46.99cm)
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'DUBLIN QUAYS [1911]'
- Price Realised: 240
- Sale: 05 October 2020
- handcoloured Cuala Press print; (unframed)
- 5½ x 4in. (13.97 x 10.16cm)
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'FAIR DAY'
- Price Realised: 240
- Sale: 17 July 2017
- Cuala press print
- 4Ύ x 7in. (12.07 x 17.78cm)
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'THE MOUNTAIN FARM, c.1908'
- Price Realised: 240
- Sale: 13 December 2010
- handcoloured Cuala Press Print
- 14 by 39cm., 5.5 by 15.5in.
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'FOR THE ROAD , 1951 [THE FRIENDS OF ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL]'
- Price Realised: 230
- Sale: 25 March 2024
- photoprint; (no. 1617 from an edition of 3000)
- 12½ x 18½in. (31Ύ x 46.99cm)
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'DUBLIN QUAY, 1911'
- Price Realised: 230
- Sale: 13 December 2023
- handcoloured Cuala Press print; (unframed)
- 6Ύ x 4Ύin. (17.15 x 12.07cm)
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'THE BALLAD SINGER'
- Price Realised: 220
- Sale: 18 October 2021
- handcoloured Cuala print; (unframed)
- 8½ x 6½in. (21.59 x 16.51cm)