Jack Butler Yeats
Born – London, England 1871
Died – Dublin, Ireland 1957
Brother of the poet W B Yeats, Jack Yeats is recognised as the foremost Irish painter of the twentieth century. From 1879-1887 he lived with his grandparents near Sligo on the West Coast of Ireland. He studied in London but settled permanently in Ireland in 1910. His mature pictures of the early 1920s describe the activities and characters of the ordinary people there. Although he claimed that Goya and Sickert were the only painters he admired, his painting is fluid and Expressionistic, boldly handled and courageously coloured. The outlines around his figures serve to reinforce form and character, almost to the point of caricature. By 1925 his manner had changed. Colours were lighter and shapes more loose. In the 1930s his technique became increasingly dynamic and fragmentary, charged with the energy of his subjects – sometimes imaginary from Irish history, at other times describing real life. The misfits, gypsies, tramps and musicians who populated the bars, pantomimes, beaches and circuses provided the vitality on which Yeats thrived. The Rogue’s March demonstrates his gift for balancing figures within the landscape of their environment, affected by atmosphere and the elements. Samuel Beckett accordingly acclaimed him as a “supreme master”.
Masterpieces:
- The Two Travellers
- A Storm
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.
Books About jack butler yeats 2
Jack B Yeats, A Centenary Gathering (Tower Series of Anglo-Irish Study)
Roger McHugh
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Life in the West of Ireland; drawn and painted
Jack Butler Yeats
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