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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'ROSA OF SALCOMBE AT KINGSBRIDGE, DEVON'
- Price Realised: 4,400
- Sale: 29 April 2003
- pencil, watercolour, pen and black ink
- 9 by 13cm., 3.5 by 5in.
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'AFTER THE WAR JARS IN THE HOME'
- Price Realised: 4,316
- Sale: 08 March 2000
- pen and ink
- 10 by 20cm., 4 by 8in.
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'KINVARA, 1899'
- Price Realised: 4,200
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- watercolour and pencil
- 3½ x 5in. (8.89 x 12.70cm)
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'READING BY CANDLELIGHT'
- Price Realised: 4,000
- Sale: 27 February 2017
- ink
- 3Ό x 6½in. (8.26 x 16.51cm)
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'DEADMANS POINT, SLIGO, LONGO AGO'
- Price Realised: 3,800
- Sale: 09 December 2006
- pen and ink
- 10 by 11cm., 3.75 by 4.5in.
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'Life in the West of Ireland Drawn and Painted by Jack B. Yeats'
- Price Realised: 3,700
- Sale: 10 December 2005
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'"WHO SAYS RHEUMATICS?"'
- Price Realised: 3,700
- Sale: 19 November 2002
- pen and ink
- 8 by 14cm., 3 by 5.5in.
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'THE TREASURE OF THE GARDEN - SIGNED PRESENTATION COPY'
- Price Realised: 3,600
- Sale: 17 May 2008
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'THE TREASURE OF THE GARDEN A PLAY BY JACK B. YEATS'
- Price Realised: 3,600
- Sale: 15 December 2007
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'LIFE IN THE WEST OF IRELAND, written and illustrated by Jack. B. Yeats'
- Price Realised: 3,600
- Sale: 26 April 2005
- 0 by 0cm., by in.
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'DONNELLY AND COOPER, (2) 1910'
- Price Realised: 3,500
- Sale: 18 May 2009
- pen and ink and watercolour
- 15 by 12cm., 5.75 by 4.75in.
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'WHERRY'
- Price Realised: 3,400
- Sale: 29 November 2021
- crayon and watercolour
- 5 x 3½in. (12.70 x 8.89cm)
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'BALLYLEE CASTLE (MILL), 1899'
- Price Realised: 3,400
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- watercolour and pencil
- 5 x 3½in. (12.70 x 8.89cm)
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'Life in the West of Ireland, Drawn and Painted by Jack Butler Yeats'
- Price Realised: 3,200
- Sale: 27 April 2004
- published by Maunsel & Co., Dublin and London, 1912
- 0 by 0cm., by in.
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'AFTER THE WAR JARS IN THE HOME'
- Price Realised: 3,200
- Sale: 19 November 2002
- pen and ink
- 10 by 20cm., 4 by 8in.
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'POLICE AND CROWDS OUTSIDE KILMAINHAM JAIL'
- Price Realised: 3,047
- Sale: 10 October 2000
- pencil and watercolour
- 9 by 13cm., 3.5 by 5in.
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'WHERE THE DEMONS GRIN, 1908'
- Price Realised: 3,000
- Sale: 06 June 2022
- Indian ink
- 4½ x 6Όin. (11.43 x 15.88cm)
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'ON THE LAKE, 1899'
- Price Realised: 3,000
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- watercolour and pencil
- 3½ x 5in. (8.89 x 12.70cm)
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'TWO MEN CONVERSING'
- Price Realised: 3,000
- Sale: 24 November 2008
- pencil with wash
- 13 by 9cm., 5 by 3.5in.
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'WOMAN RAISING HER HAT IN GREETING'
- Price Realised: 3,000
- Sale: 17 September 2002
- watercolour
- 14 by 9cm., 5.5 by 3.5in.
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'A WORD OF ADVICE, c.1900'
- Price Realised: 2,900
- Sale: 18 May 2009
- watercolour and pen over paper
- 17 by 22cm., 6.5 by 8.75in.
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'THE STRAND RACES: THE START AND THE FINISH (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 2,900
- Sale: 09 December 2006
- pair of hand-coloured Cuala Press prints
- 13 by 42cm., 5 by 16.5in.
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'BALLYLEE CASTLE (THOOR BALLYLEE), 1899'
- Price Realised: 2,800
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- watercolour and pencil
- 5 x 3½in. (12.70 x 8.89cm)
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'ROLLING SANDY, 1899'
- Price Realised: 2,800
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- watercolour and pencil
- 3½ x 5in. (8.89 x 12.70cm)
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'COUPLE ON THE STRAND'
- Price Realised: 2,800
- Sale: 14 March 2011
- ink on paper
- 11 by 15cm., 4.5 by 6in.
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'PUTTY THE DASHING SPY'
- Price Realised: 2,700
- Sale: 09 December 2006
- pen and ink with wash on paper
- 13 by 9cm., 5 by 3.5in.
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'THE JOCKEY, THE WREN BOYS and TWO OTHERS (SET OF FOUR)'
- Price Realised: 2,600
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- handcoloured woodblock print; (4)
- 4 x 6½in. (10.16 x 16.51cm)
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'PRESENTATION COPY OF BOOK TO REEVES LEWENTHAL, WITH SKETCH OF A HORSE, 1946'
- Price Realised: 2,600
- Sale: 25 April 2006
- inscribed by Jack B. Yeats to New York art dealer Reeves Lewenthal, Dublin, July 1946, with a thumbnail sketch of a horse on the front of the free endpaper
- 8 by 0cm., 3 by in.