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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'POBBLES AT SNAIL'S CASTLE, DEVON'
- Price Realised: 1,500
- Sale: 16 September 2019
- pencil
- 7Ό x 4in. (18.42 x 10.16cm)
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'BEND IN THE RIVER, CHEVY'
- Price Realised: 1,500
- Sale: 04 October 2010
- watercolour over pencil (no.39, double sided)
- 9 by 13cm., 3.5 by 5in.
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'MAN WITH CART, DONKEY AND CHILDREN'
- Price Realised: 1,500
- Sale: 04 October 2010
- watercolour over pencil (no.11)
- 9 by 13cm., 3.5 by 5in.
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'CHILDREN IN A CART'
- Price Realised: 1,500
- Sale: 04 October 2010
- watercolour over pencil (no.8)
- 13 by 8cm., 5 by 3in.
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'GALWAY MAN IN WAISTCOAT AND CAP'
- Price Realised: 1,500
- Sale: 04 October 2010
- watercolour over pencil (no.10)
- 13 by 9cm., 5 by 3.5in.
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'CHRISTMAS CARD WITH DANCING CLOWN'
- Price Realised: 1,500
- Sale: 09 December 2006
- watercolour stencil on card
- 14 by 9cm., 5.5 by 3.5in.
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'SKETCH OF 'MILLER', 1899'
- Price Realised: 1,400
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- watercolour and pencil
- 5 x 3½in. (12.70 x 8.89cm)
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'GOING TO LACE SCHOOL'
- Price Realised: 1,400
- Sale: 16 September 2019
- pencil and wash
- 3Ό x 4Ύin. (8.26 x 12.07cm)
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'THE STRAND RACES: THE START and THE FINISH (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 1,400
- Sale: 15 December 2007
- hand-coloured Cuala Press prints
- 13 by 43cm., 5 by 17in.
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'THE MOUNTAIN FARM and THE VILLAGE (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 1,400
- Sale: 12 June 2005
- hand coloured Cuala Press wood block prints
- 9 by 34cm., 3.5 by 13.5in.
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'GALWAY LANDSCAPE AT SUNSET'
- Price Realised: 1,350
- Sale: 04 October 2010
- watercolour over pencil (no.29)
- 9 by 13cm., 3.5 by 5in.
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'DERELICT, 1910'
- Price Realised: 1,350
- Sale: 15 March 2010
- watercolour over pencil
- 12 by 8cm., 4.75 by 3.25in.
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'THE OIL WAGON and A LONG TIME AGO (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 1,300
- Sale: 25 May 2020
- print; (2)
- 6Ύ x 4Ύin. (17.15 x 12.07cm)
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'OLD FATHER TIME, THE JOCKEY and THE ANCIENT MARE (SET OF THREE)'
- Price Realised: 1,300
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- handcoloured woodblock print; (3)
- 7 x 5in. (17.78 x 12.70cm)
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'THE BOG ROAD, THE JOCKEY, THE WREN BOYS and THE SIDE CAR (SET OF FOUR)'
- Price Realised: 1,300
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- handcoloured woodblock print; (4)
- 4Ό x 6½in. (10.80 x 16.51cm)
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'THE STRAND RACES: THE START AND THE FINISH (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 1,300
- Sale: 10 October 2011
- hand-coloured Cuala Press prints; (framed uniformly)
- 13 by 43cm., 5 by 17in.
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'RIVER AT CHEVY'
- Price Realised: 1,300
- Sale: 04 October 2010
- watercolour over pencil (no.38)
- 9 by 13cm., 3.5 by 5in.
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'SLIGO - a signed, first edition, and SAILING SAILING SWIFTLY - first edition'
- Price Realised: 1,300
- Sale: 05 April 2008
- 20 by 13cm., 7.75 by 5in.
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'THE HORSE FAIR OF BALLINASLOE, THE BOYS OF BALLYCASTLE and THE POUND STREET BAND, 1912 (SET OF THREE)'
- Price Realised: 1,300
- Sale: 15 December 2007
- original plates from Yeats' book 'Life in the West of Ireland' with later hand-colouring
- 15 by 10cm., 6 by 4in.
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'Hilary Pyle, Jack B. Yeats: A Catalogue Raisonnι of the Oil Paintings - three volume set'
- Price Realised: 1,300
- Sale: 10 December 2005
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'THE PLAYBOY, START OF THE RACE and FINISH OF THE RACE (SET OF THREE)'
- Price Realised: 1,250
- Sale: 05 October 2020
- handcoloured lithograph; (3)
- 7 x 5in. (17.78 x 12.70cm)
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'THE STRAND RACES: THE START AND THE FINISH (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 1,250
- Sale: 03 April 2017
- hand-coloured Cuala Press print; (2); (framed uniformly)
- 5½ x 17½in. (13.97 x 44.45cm)
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'THE MOUNTAIN FARM and THE VILLAGE (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 1,250
- Sale: 24 February 2014
- hand-coloured Cuala Press prints; (2); (framed uniformly)
- 3.5 by 13.5in., 8.75 by 33.75cm.
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'AUTOGRAPH BOOK INCLUDING VARIOUS MEMBERS OF THE UNITED ARTS CLUB, c.1950-1960s'
- Price Realised: 1,250
- Sale: 24 February 2014
- 4.75 by 7.25in., 11.875 by 18.125cm.
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'COLLECTION OF CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE ARTIST AND MR. P. CROWE, MONUMENTAL SCULPTOR, APRIL 1949-1954'
- Price Realised: 1,250
- Sale: 01 October 2012
- letters on headed paper; (5); stamped and addressed envelopes; (4)
- 8 by 10in., 20 by 25cm.
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'EVENING, COOLE LAKE'
- Price Realised: 1,250
- Sale: 04 October 2010
- watercolour over pencil (no.30)
- 9 by 13cm., 3.5 by 5in.
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'ONE OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES'
- Price Realised: 1,250
- Sale: 04 October 2010
- watercolour over pencil (no.19)
- 9 by 13cm., 3.5 by 5in.
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'TREE LINED PATHWAY'
- Price Realised: 1,250
- Sale: 04 October 2010
- watercolour over pencil (no.15)
- 9 by 13cm., 3.5 by 5in.