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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'A Broadside, Twelve Issues, June 1909 - May 1910'
- Price Realised: 1,250
- Sale: 27 May 2006
- 28 by 19cm., 11 by 7.5in.
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'POLICEMAN, CUFFE STREET'
- Price Realised: 1,200
- Sale: 14 December 2020
- pencil
- 4Ύ x 3in. (12.07 x 7.62cm)
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'MILL GROUND FLOOR [BALLYLEE CASTLE], 1899'
- Price Realised: 1,200
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- watercolour and pencil
- 3½ x 5in. (8.89 x 12.70cm)
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'KAREFUL KINVARA, 1899'
- Price Realised: 1,200
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- watercolour and pencil
- 5 x 3½in. (12.70 x 8.89cm)
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'CROMLECH, COOLE'
- Price Realised: 1,200
- Sale: 04 October 2010
- watercolour over pencil (no.36)
- 9 by 13cm., 3.5 by 5in.
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'THE STRAND RACES: THE START AND THE FINISH (A PAIR), circa 1935'
- Price Realised: 1,200
- Sale: 17 May 2008
- hand coloured Cuala Press prints - early impressions
- 13 by 43cm., 5 by 17in.
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'STONE WALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE, NOR IRON BARS A CAGE, 1897 (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 1,200
- Sale: 17 May 2008
- pair of lithographs printed in colour
- 14 by 57cm., 5.5 by 22.5in.
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'EVENING'
- Price Realised: 1,200
- Sale: 09 December 2006
- hand-coloured Cuala Press print
- 20 by 30cm., 8 by 12in.
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'Hilary Pyle Jack B. Yeats: A Catalogue Raisonnι of the Oil Paintings'
- Price Realised: 1,200
- Sale: 12 June 2005
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'DESIGN FOR A CHRISTMAS CARD, EARLY 1950s'
- Price Realised: 1,150
- Sale: 14 March 2011
- ink on paper
- 10 by 18cm., 3.75 by 7in.
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'MAN IN BLUE SUIT WITH CAP'
- Price Realised: 1,150
- Sale: 04 October 2010
- watercolour over pencil (no.1)
- 13 by 9cm., 5 by 3.5in.
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'GENTLEMAN IN OVERCOAT and WINDOW BOX OUTSIDE FORDS WITH DETAIL OF HALF DOOR (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 1,100
- Sale: 17 February 2020
- watercolour over pencil; (2)
- 4Ύ x 3½in. (12.07 x 8.89cm)
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'FROM TRAM, 1899'
- Price Realised: 1,100
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- watercolour and pencil
- 5 x 3½in. (12.70 x 8.89cm)
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'THE POST CAR and THE MOUNTAIN FARM (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 1,100
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- handcoloured woodblock print; (2)
- 8Ό x 12in. (20.96 x 30.48cm)
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'AN OLD SLAVE and THE HURLEY PLAYER (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 1,100
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- handcoloured woodblock print; (2)
- 8 x 5in. (20.32 x 12.70cm)
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'THE MOUNTAIN FARM and THE VILLAGE (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 1,100
- Sale: 28 September 2015
- hand-coloured Cuala Press prints; (2)
- 3½ x 13½in. (8.89 x 34.29cm)
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'ILLUSTRATED LETTER FROM YEATS AT ROGER'S HOTEL, KILLYBEGS, COUNTY DONEGAL TO THOMAS ARNOLD HARVEY'
- Price Realised: 1,100
- Sale: 01 October 2012
- ink on buff-coloured paper; (2)
- 6.75 by 4.5in., 17 by 11cm.
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'WEAVER AT LOOM'
- Price Realised: 1,100
- Sale: 04 October 2010
- watercolour over pencil (no.26)
- 9 by 7cm., 3.5 by 2.75in.
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'PROFILE OF A MAN WITH MOUSTACHE IN A CAP'
- Price Realised: 1,100
- Sale: 04 October 2010
- watercolour over pencil (no.3)
- 13 by 9cm., 5 by 3.5in.
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'TWO LETTERS TO RUPERT GORDON AND MRS LOWE, 1943-46'
- Price Realised: 1,100
- Sale: 28 April 2008
- autograph manuscript, 2pp
- 20 by 25cm., 8 by 10in.
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'J. M. Synge, The Aran Islands with Drawings by Jack B. Yeats'
- Price Realised: 1,100
- Sale: 09 December 2006
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'Life in the West of Ireland: Drawn and Painted by Jack B. Yeats'
- Price Realised: 1,100
- Sale: 17 February 2004
- 0 by 0cm., by in.
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'THE MOUNTAIN FARM and THE VILLAGE (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 1,050
- Sale: 10 July 2023
- hand-coloured Cuala Press prints; (2); (framed uniformly)
- 3½ x 13½in. (8.89 x 34.29cm)
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'INTERIOR OF ONE OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES'
- Price Realised: 1,050
- Sale: 26 September 2022
- watercolour over pencil; (double-sided)
- 3½ x 5in. (8.89 x 12.70cm)
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'A POETESS FROM THE LAND'S END'
- Price Realised: 1,050
- Sale: 04 October 2010
- watercolour over pencil (no.22)
- 9 by 7cm., 3.5 by 2.75in.
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'STEPPING STONES, CHEVY AND DETAIL OF HORSE FEEDING'
- Price Realised: 1,050
- Sale: 04 October 2010
- watercolour over pencil (no.37, double sided)
- 9 by 13cm., 3.5 by 5in.
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'MAN FISHING'
- Price Realised: 1,050
- Sale: 04 October 2010
- watercolour over pencil (no.4)
- 13 by 9cm., 5 by 3.5in.
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'VIEW OF THE LAKE THROUGH TREES'
- Price Realised: 1,050
- Sale: 04 October 2010
- watercolour over pencil (no.16)
- 9 by 13cm., 3.5 by 5in.