AN APPRECIATION: Jack B. Yeats
​by Rich Wagner

 I first became aware of Jack B. Yeats during a visit to the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin. This is not all that extraordinary as Yeats is regarded as Ireland's leading painter of the 20th century.  However, Yeat's work extends beyond national boundaries and has an international appeal. Accordingly, his works can also be found at museums such as the Tate, the Art Institute of Chicago, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Jack B. Yeats was born in London in 1871. His father was the portrait artist John Butler Yeats and his brother was the poet William Butler Yeats.

John Yeats had left the legal profession and the family moved between Ireland and England as he attempted to establish himself as an artist. This caused disruptions and at age seven, Jack went to live with his maternal grandparents in Sligo, Ireland. His grandfather assumed an influential role in Jack's life and he took the boy with him on trips around Ireland. Jack's experiences at horse fairs and seeing everyday Irish country life made a deep impression that would later re-emerge in his art.

At 18, Jack returned to London to go to art school. While there, he met his future wife, a fellow art student. He then found work as an illustrator, which eventually enabled him to buy a house in Devon. There, he continued to draw and also did realist watercolors.

In 1905, Jack traveled to the west of Ireland on a newspaper assignment along with the writer John M. Singe. The trip re-awoke Jack's boyhood love of Ireland and he began to turn to Irish subjects in his art. Accordingly, Jack and his wife moved to Ireland in 1910.

Soon Ireland became immersed in turmoil. The 1916 Easter Rising led to the Irish War for Independence. This was followed by the Irish Civil War. Although Jack favored the republican cause, he did not take an active part in the fighting.

With the establishment of the Irish Free State, there was a great renewal of interest in things Irish. Jack's brother William was at the center of a flourishing Irish literary circle in Dublin that was exploring the emerging national identity. Jack's Irish landscapes and depictions of scenes of everyday life matched the national mood.

Up until this point, Jack's style had been a rather conservative, traditional approach. However, in the 1920s, his style began to shift. Working more often in oil paints, his works became more colorful and increasingly abstract. In some respects, it was Expressionistic. In other ways, it was like Van Gogh. However, at the end of the day, it was a unique style. Although his works always remained figurative, they became looser and more abstract over time.

For me, the measure of a piece of art is whether it speaks to me. The works Yeats did during the 1920s as his style began to go through its transformation are appealing for their insight into the character of the people depicted and for their energy. His later more abstract works have freedom and emotion both in the color and the economy of line.

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Above: "The Singing Horseman" (1948).

Two of Yeats' transitional works from the 1920s.  Above: "In the Tram".
Below: "The Liffey Swim".  Both works are in the National Gallery of Ireland.

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Artist appreciation - Jack B. Yeats