Jack B. Yeats: Ireland's Painter

Jack B. Yeats

Jack B. Yeats was the youngest of four surviving children of the painter John Bulter Yeats (1839-1922). He was born in London in 1871 and raised in Sligo, a seaside town in Northern Ireland, by his grandparents, William and Elizabeth Pollexfen. His parents continued to work in Dublin. At the age of sixteen, Jack moved to London where he studied art at the South Kensington, Chiswick and Westminster schools.

In 1888 he was an accomplished graphic artist and provided illustrations for many journals, including The Begetarian, Ariel, Paddock Life and Lika Joko.

In 1897 he moved to Devon, another seaside town, where he turned his attentions to oil painting and watercoulours.

In 1910, he moved back to Ireland, in Greystones, County Wicklow, and then onto Dublin in 1917 where he spend his remaining years.

Jack B. Yeats is regarded as being one of Ireland's most important Twentieth-century artists.

His early works record events from his childhood and early youth. He paints from what he calls his "pool of memories" and later depicted the emotions he felt during events from his past.

Video tour from the exhibit opening at the Yale Center for British Arts, September 1997 The collector, Brian Burns, comments on Jack B. Yeats watch the video [19 seconds] More on the artist and his works watch the video [1 minute] Each video clip above requires the RealPlayer, available at http://www.real.com. To view the video, just click on the links above. Downloading and installation instructions are also available.