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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'TIDE COMING IN, BALLYCASTLE, COUNTY MAYO, 1909'
- Price Realised: 28,000
- Sale: 04 March 2024
- oil on board
- 9½ x 14in. (24.13 x 35.56cm)
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'A YOUNG MAN'S TROUBLES'
- Price Realised: 26,000
- Sale: 17 September 2002
- watercolour, pastel and pencil on paper
- 15 by 46cm., 6 by 18in.
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'ONLY TWO IN IT, 1905'
- Price Realised: 25,000
- Sale: 30 May 2011
- watercolour
- 26 by 36cm., 10.2 5 by 14.2 5in.
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'A YOUNG MAN'S TROUBLES, 1900'
- Price Realised: 24,000
- Sale: 28 November 2011
- watercolour, pastel and pencil on paper
- 15 by 46cm., 6 by 18in.
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'JACK BUTLER YEATS, STUDIO ARCHIVE COLLECTION'
- Price Realised: 24,000
- Sale: 30 May 2011
- oil paints, watercolour, boxes, brushes, etc.
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'AN CAPALLνN B¦N with A SIGNED MANUSCRIPT LETTER'
- Price Realised: 22,000
- Sale: 16 September 2003
- oil on canvas laid on board
- 9 by 11cm., 3.5 by 4.5in.
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'A PROFESSIONAL MAN, c.1905'
- Price Realised: 20,000
- Sale: 02 December 2019
- watercolour on card laid on board
- 23 x 19Όin. (58.42 x 48.90cm)
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'THE BALLAD SINGER'S CHILDREN'
- Price Realised: 19,000
- Sale: 24 November 2014
- watercolour on artist board
- 10 x 14in. (25.40 x 35.56cm)
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'VICTORY, circa 1897-1900'
- Price Realised: 19,000
- Sale: 28 April 2008
- pen and ink with watercolour
- 25 by 14cm., 10 by 5.5in.
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'A JUNE FAIR, 1912'
- Price Realised: 19,000
- Sale: 30 April 2007
- pen and ink with watercolour on card
- 14 by 21cm., 5.5 by 8.25in.
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'OLD JOHN, 1904'
- Price Realised: 18,000
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- watercolour
- 9½ x 7½in. (24.13 x 19.05cm)
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'COMPLETE COLLECTION OF 84 BROADSIDES [1908-1915]'
- Price Realised: 17,000
- Sale: 04 March 2019
- hand-coloured; (from a limited edition of 300). Bound and hand-tooled by Cuala printer Esther Ryan in full dark brown smooth morocco, laced around edges, upper cover with title and motif of young singer blind embossed on front.
- 11 x 7½in. (27.94 x 19.05cm)
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'FIGURES GATHERED c.1904-06'
- Price Realised: 17,000
- Sale: 26 September 2016
- gouache and watercolour on card
- 10½ x 14Όin. (26.67 x 36.20cm)
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'ILLUSTRATION FOR OLD JOHN, 1938'
- Price Realised: 16,000
- Sale: 06 June 2022
- ink and watercolour
- 6½ x 9½in. (16.51 x 24.13cm)
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'ST. JOHN'S EVE BONFIRE NIGHT'
- Price Realised: 16,000
- Sale: 26 November 2018
- pen, ink and watercolour
- 8 x 6½in. (20.32 x 16.51cm)
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'BRIXHAM, AUGUST 1894'
- Price Realised: 16,000
- Sale: 28 November 2006
- watercolour over pencil
- 15 by 25cm., 6 by 10in.
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'SAINT KEVIN'
- Price Realised: 16,000
- Sale: 18 February 2003
- watercolour heightened with white
- 76 by 51cm., 30 by 20in.
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'LOCAL AND TRAVELLING CHAMPIONS, DEVONSHIRE, 1897'
- Price Realised: 15,000
- Sale: 28 September 2020
- watercolour, black chalk and pencil on paper
- 14 x 10in. (35.56 x 25.40cm)
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'NEAR BALLYCASTLE, circa 1909'
- Price Realised: 15,000
- Sale: 21 September 2004
- watercolour over pencil
- 24 by 32cm., 9.5 by 12.7in.
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'CASTLE AT KINVARA, 1899'
- Price Realised: 14,000
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- watercolour and pencil
- 3½ x 5in. (8.89 x 12.70cm)
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'A BOREEN'
- Price Realised: 14,000
- Sale: 24 November 2014
- watercolour on artist board
- 10 x 14in. (25.40 x 35.56cm)
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'THE CIRCUS, 1919'
- Price Realised: 12,500
- Sale: 22 March 2021
- ink and watercolour
- 8Ό x 6Ύin. (20.96 x 17.15cm)
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'SEA FOG, 1909'
- Price Realised: 12,200
- Sale: 02 October 2017
- watercolour
- 14 x 10in. (35.56 x 25.40cm)
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'THE LITTLE BOOK, 1906'
- Price Realised: 12,000
- Sale: 26 November 2012
- watercolour
- 10 by 14in., 25.4 by 35.56cm.
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'ST ALPHONSUS'
- Price Realised: 12,000
- Sale: 22 February 2005
- watercolour and gouache over pencil
- 77 by 47cm., 30.5 by 18.5in.
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'THE LITTLE BOOK, 1906'
- Price Realised: 11,000
- Sale: 28 September 2020
- watercolour
- 10 x 14in. (25.40 x 35.56cm)
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'ILLUSTRATION TO CAMPEACHY PICTURE BY JOHN MASEFIELD, 1908'
- Price Realised: 11,000
- Sale: 17 February 2004
- pencil, pen and ink on card
- 12 by 17cm., 4.75 by 6.75in.
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'THE BATHER, [WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS] c. 1899'
- Price Realised: 10,500
- Sale: 07 March 2022
- ink and blue wash
- 3½ x 4½in. (8.89 x 11.43cm)