Artist. He was born the youngest of five children, the eldest being the poet, William Butler Yeats. Both parents were Irish Protestants and, when Jack Yeats was eight, he was sent to County Sligo to join his maternal grandparents. He remained there until 1888, when he went to study at the Westminster School of Art. Yeats began his career by contributing black-and-white illustrations to books and periodicals. Between 1890 and 1900, he held a number of one-man exhibitions of his drawings and watercolours in London, then moved to Ireland, where he and his wife spent the rest of their lives. In 1913, five oil paintings by Yeats were displayed at the Armory Exhibition in New York City, after which he concentrated on that medium. In addition to his paintings, which included scenes of horse racing and boxing matches as well as Irish landscapes, Yeats wrote many articles for publication, and had three plays produced at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Mary died on the 28th. April 1947 and, a few years after that, Jack left their house at 18 Fitzwilliam Square in Dublin, and moved into the Portobello Nursing Home near the Grand Canal, where he died. His funeral service was held at St. Stephen's Church in Mount Street Crescent. It was decided not to use on his tombstone the epitaph he had written for himself: "Under no stones / Nor slates / Lies Jack B. Yeats / No heaped up rocks / Just a collection box / And we thought a Nation's folly / Would like to be jolly / And bury in state / This singular Yeat / But they were not so inclined / Therefore if you've a mind / To slide a copper in the slot / "Twill help to sod the plot."
Artist. He was born the youngest of five children, the eldest being the poet, William Butler Yeats. Both parents were Irish Protestants and, when Jack Yeats was eight, he was sent to County Sligo to join his maternal grandparents. He remained there until 1888, when he went to study at the Westminster School of Art. Yeats began his career by contributing black-and-white illustrations to books and periodicals. Between 1890 and 1900, he held a number of one-man exhibitions of his drawings and watercolours in London, then moved to Ireland, where he and his wife spent the rest of their lives. In 1913, five oil paintings by Yeats were displayed at the Armory Exhibition in New York City, after which he concentrated on that medium. In addition to his paintings, which included scenes of horse racing and boxing matches as well as Irish landscapes, Yeats wrote many articles for publication, and had three plays produced at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Mary died on the 28th. April 1947 and, a few years after that, Jack left their house at 18 Fitzwilliam Square in Dublin, and moved into the Portobello Nursing Home near the Grand Canal, where he died. His funeral service was held at St. Stephen's Church in Mount Street Crescent. It was decided not to use on his tombstone the epitaph he had written for himself: "Under no stones / Nor slates / Lies Jack B. Yeats / No heaped up rocks / Just a collection box / And we thought a Nation's folly / Would like to be jolly / And bury in state / This singular Yeat / But they were not so inclined / Therefore if you've a mind / To slide a copper in the slot / "Twill help to sod the plot."
Bio by: Iain MacFarlaine
Inscription
IN/MEMORY/OF/MARY COTTENHAM YEATS/WHO DIED/28TH APRIL 1947/AND OF HER HUSBAND/JACK BUTLER YEATS/WHO DIED/28TH MARCH 1957.
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