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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'BOOKPLATE FOR CYRIL M. E. FRANKLIN'
- Price Realised: 10,500
- Sale: 19 February 2007
- pen and ink on card
- 18 by 13cm., 7 by 5.25in.
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'COMPLETE COLLECTION OF 84 BROADSIDES [1908-1915]'
- Price Realised: 10,000
- Sale: 27 September 2021
- hand-coloured; (from a limited edition of 300)
- 11 x 7½in. (27.94 x 19.05cm)
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'THE FINEST HORSE FROM THE ROSSES TO RATHMULLEN, 1900'
- Price Realised: 9,700
- Sale: 30 April 2007
- watercolour
- 23 by 18cm., 9 by 7in.
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'ST. ALPHONSUS, 1903'
- Price Realised: 9,500
- Sale: 01 October 2018
- watercolour and gouache over pencil
- 30½ x 18½in. (77.47 x 46.99cm)
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'ILLUSTRATION TO "...AND SHE FOLLOWED THE DARK-EYED GYPSEY O", 1903'
- Price Realised: 8,500
- Sale: 26 November 2012
- Indian ink with watercolour
- 5 by 11in., 12.7 by 27.94cm.
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'KNOCKNAREA, c.1906'
- Price Realised: 8,500
- Sale: 30 May 2011
- watercolour
- 18 by 26cm., 7 by 10.2 5in.
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'RABBITING'
- Price Realised: 8,500
- Sale: 18 May 2009
- ink drawing
- 34 by 30cm., 13.5 by 12in.
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'THATCHING IN THE SUN'
- Price Realised: 8,500
- Sale: 18 May 2009
- ink over pencil
- 34 by 30cm., 13.5 by 12in.
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'SEASCAPE AND SAILING VESSEL, circa 1900'
- Price Realised: 8,200
- Sale: 29 November 2005
- watercolour over pencil
- 15 by 35cm., 6 by 13.7in.
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'SILHOUETTE PORTRAIT OF JOHN MILLINGTON SYNGE'
- Price Realised: 8,000
- Sale: 31 May 2021
- ink on tinted paper
- 15 x 11in. (38.10 x 27.94cm)
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'SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI, c.1903'
- Price Realised: 8,000
- Sale: 30 May 2016
- gouache on card
- 31½ x 19in. (80.01 x 48.26cm)
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'NEAR BALLYCASTLE [COUNTY MAYO], c.1905'
- Price Realised: 7,800
- Sale: 14 March 2011
- watercolour
- 23 by 32cm., 9.25 by 12.7 5in.
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'ILLUSTRATION TO 'RHYMES OF THE GITANOS', 1908'
- Price Realised: 7,500
- Sale: 26 September 2022
- Indian ink on card
- 5 x 6½in. (12.70 x 16.51cm)
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'BY THE FIRE'
- Price Realised: 7,500
- Sale: 28 September 2020
- ink and watercolour
- 6½ x 9½in. (16.51 x 24.13cm)
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'SIDE CAR LEAVING AN INN or THE BAG MAN'
- Price Realised: 7,500
- Sale: 27 February 2017
- watercolour and pencil on card
- 10 x 14in. (25.40 x 35.56cm)
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'THE FORESTER, 1913'
- Price Realised: 7,500
- Sale: 04 March 2013
- Indian Ink with watercolour
- 9.5 by 6.75in., 23.75 by 16.875cm.
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'THE FORESTER, 1913'
- Price Realised: 7,500
- Sale: 01 October 2012
- Indian Ink with watercolour
- 9.5 by 6.75in., 24 by 17cm.
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'BONFIRE NIGHT [ST. JOHN'S EVE]'
- Price Realised: 7,000
- Sale: 27 May 2019
- pen, ink and watercolour
- 8 x 5Όin. (20.32 x 13.34cm)
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'A LONG WAY TO GO, RACES IN DEVONSHIRE ['THEY'LL TAKE A LOT OF CATCHING!'] 1897'
- Price Realised: 7,000
- Sale: 01 October 2018
- watercolour over pencil
- 7 x 10Όin. (17.78 x 26.04cm)
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'WITH HOOKS OF STEEL'
- Price Realised: 7,000
- Sale: 26 April 2005
- pen and ink over pencil on card
- 15 by 11cm., 6 by 4.5in.
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'THE CAPTIVE ARCHER, 1914'
- Price Realised: 6,700
- Sale: 22 February 2005
- pen and ink over pencil on card
- 17 by 13cm., 6.75 by 5.25in.
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'COMPLETE COLLECTION OF 84 BROADSIDES [1908-1915]'
- Price Realised: 6,500
- Sale: 07 March 2022
- hand-coloured; (from a limited edition of 300)
- 11 x 7½in. (27.94 x 19.05cm)
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'THE LOTTERY, c. 1913'
- Price Realised: 6,400
- Sale: 16 September 2019
- pen, ink and watercolour
- 10½ x 7½in. (26.67 x 19.05cm)
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'COOLE LIBRARY WITH W.B. YEATS, AUGUSTA GREGORY AND GEORGE RUSSELL, 1900'
- Price Realised: 6,200
- Sale: 07 March 2022
- pen and ink
- 9½ x 14in. (24.13 x 35.56cm)
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'IN THE TRAIN'
- Price Realised: 6,200
- Sale: 16 September 2019
- pen, ink and watercolour
- 7Ό x 7Ύin. (18.42 x 19.69cm)
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'EVENING and THE POST CAR (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 6,200
- Sale: 29 November 2005
- hand-coloured Cuala Press prints
- 25 by 33cm., 10 by 13in.
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'PIRATE ISLAND, circa 1911'
- Price Realised: 6,200
- Sale: 26 April 2005
- pen and ink with watercolour wash on paper
- 9 by 10cm., 3.5 by 4in.
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'SEAWEED BOAT SAILING IN, 1899'
- Price Realised: 6,000
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- watercolour and pencil
- 5 x 3½in. (12.70 x 8.89cm)