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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'CAR DRIVER, DUBLIN, 1899'
- Price Realised: 1,800
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- watercolour and pencil
- 5 x 3½in. (12.70 x 8.89cm)
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'A BROADSIDE - TWELVE ISSUES, JUNE 1909 - MAY 1910'
- Price Realised: 1,800
- Sale: 26 February 2018
- hand-coloured Cuala Press prints
- 11 x 7½in. (27.94 x 19.05cm)
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'SIX CATALOGUES AND ONE INVITATION TO VARIOUS EXHIBITIONS OF 'LIFE IN THE WEST OF IRELAND''
- Price Realised: 1,800
- Sale: 02 March 2009
- six printed catalogues, one with handcolouring, and two annotated by Lady Gregory
- 18 by 11cm., 7 by 4.5in.
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'THE MOUNTAIN FARM and THE VILLAGE (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 1,800
- Sale: 15 December 2007
- hand-coloured Cuala Press prints
- 9 by 34cm., 3.5 by 13.5in.
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'THE NEW BROOM'
- Price Realised: 1,700
- Sale: 18 October 2021
- pen and ink
- 5Ό x 4in. (13.34 x 10.16cm)
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'INVALIDES, IT WAS HIS FAVOURITE SPOT, ANOTHER HOTSPUR IN THE FIELD, c.1890'
- Price Realised: 1,700
- Sale: 25 May 2020
- ink on paper
- 7 x 4in. (17.78 x 10.16cm)
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'NEEDLEWORK , 1899'
- Price Realised: 1,700
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- watercolour and pencil
- 3½ x 5in. (8.89 x 12.70cm)
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'ARCHER CYCLES, DUBLIN, 1899'
- Price Realised: 1,700
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- watercolour and pencil
- 5 x 3½in. (12.70 x 8.89cm)
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'JOHNNIE FROM GORT'
- Price Realised: 1,700
- Sale: 04 October 2010
- ink (no.33)
- 13 by 9cm., 5 by 3.5in.
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'FOOTBALL MATCH'
- Price Realised: 1,700
- Sale: 04 October 2010
- watercolour over pencil (no.34)
- 9 by 13cm., 3.5 by 5in.
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'MAN IN BOWLER HAT'
- Price Realised: 1,700
- Sale: 04 October 2010
- watercolour over pencil (no.5)
- 13 by 9cm., 5 by 3.5in.
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'THE STRAND RACES: THE START and THE FINISH (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 1,700
- Sale: 10 December 2005
- pair of hand-coloured Cuala Press prints
- 13 by 43cm., 5 by 17in.
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'Life in the West of Ireland'
- Price Realised: 1,650
- Sale: 27 May 2006
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'THE MOUNTAIN FARM and THE VILLAGE (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 1,600
- Sale: 14 June 2021
- hand-coloured Cuala Press prints; (2); (framed uniformly)
- 3½ x 13½in. (8.89 x 34.29cm)
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'MUST HAVE BEEN AN ALLEGORY, 1899'
- Price Realised: 1,600
- Sale: 29 February 2016
- pencil and wash on paper mounted on card
- 4 x 6in. (10.16 x 15.24cm)
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'PROFILE OF A SMARTLY ATTIRED MAN'
- Price Realised: 1,600
- Sale: 24 November 2014
- watercolour over pencil
- 4.90 x 3½in. (12.45 x 8.89cm)
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'BIRD PERCHED ON A ROCK, COOLE LAKE'
- Price Realised: 1,600
- Sale: 04 October 2010
- watercolour over pencil (no.13)
- 9 by 13cm., 3.5 by 5in.
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'THREE CHILDREN STANDING'
- Price Realised: 1,600
- Sale: 04 October 2010
- watercolour over pencil (no.9)
- 13 by 9cm., 5 by 3.5in.
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'Life in the West of Ireland, Drawn and Painted by Jack B. Yeats'
- Price Realised: 1,600
- Sale: 09 December 2006
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'STUDY OF A CHURCH PEW'
- Price Realised: 1,600
- Sale: 19 November 2002
- watercolour and pencil
- 13 by 9cm., 5 by 3.5in.
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'MAN IN HAT AND WAISTCOAT, 1899'
- Price Realised: 1,500
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- watercolour and pencil
- 5 x 3½in. (12.70 x 8.89cm)
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'GIRL IN A SHAWL, 1899'
- Price Realised: 1,500
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- watercolour and pencil
- 5 x 3½in. (12.70 x 8.89cm)
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'NATIONAL SCHOOL NEEDLE WORKER'
- Price Realised: 1,500
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- watercolour and pencil
- 5 x 3½in. (12.70 x 8.89cm)
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'DONKEYS AND SWANS AT COOLE, 1899'
- Price Realised: 1,500
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- watercolour and pencil
- 3½ x 5in. (8.89 x 12.70cm)
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'ARDRAHAN STATION, 1899'
- Price Realised: 1,500
- Sale: 25 November 2019
- watercolour and pencil
- 3½ x 5in. (8.89 x 12.70cm)
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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.