Anne Butler Yeats (1919-2001)
Coole Park - Oil
Anne Butler Yeats, daughter of the painter Jack Butler Yeats and botanic artist Elizabeth Yeats, and niece of writer William Butler Yeats was born in Dublin in 1919. She studied art at the Royal Hibernian Academy and went on to become the chief stage designer for the Abbey Theatre. In the 1940s she returned to painting and took a course at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art (now the NCAD) under the artist Sean Keating.
In 1947 she was elected to the Committee of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art and from the late forties onwards her artwork was widely exhibited both at home and abroad. She took part in solo exhibitions at prestigious galleries and venues such as the New Gallery, Belfast (1964, 1967), the Dawson Gallery, Dublin (1971-72) and the University of Winnipeg, Canada (1975).
Anne painted in what can be described as a naïve expressionistic style, largely using oils. The influence of her father Jack can be seen in her bold application of paint and her mothers influence in Anne’s interest in depicting plant life in her landscapes. Anne’s bold expressionist style of painting also owes to her time as a set designer for the stage as her works have a sense of drama and monumentality.
The year after her death a memorial exhibition was held at the National Gallery of Ireland in 2002 which included 20 paintings as well as drawings from her sketchbooks. Today her works can be found worldwide in both public and private collections such as the collection at Trinity College, Dublin and at the Arts Council of Ireland as well as the Hugh Lane in Dublin and the Ulster Museum, Belfast.
The Irish painter and theatre designer
Anne Yeats was born in Dublin in 1919, the
daughter of the poet William Butler Yeats and a niece of the painter Jack
B. Yeats and botanic artist Elizabeth Yeats. She studied drawing
and painting at the Royal
Hibernian Academy Schools, and then worked as chief stage designer
at the Abbey Theatre until 1940, before returning to painting. She took
a refresher course at the Dublin
Metropolitan School of Art under Sean Keating.
In 1947, Anne Yeats was elected to the Committee of the Irish
Exhibition of Living Art.
As an artist, Anne Yeats painted brightly
coloured landscapes, still-lifes,
and figure paintings, in a naive
expressionist style of art, using
oils and mixed media. Doubtless due
in part to her family connections with one of the best known artistic
families of Irish culture, Anne Yeats' artwork
has been exhibited widely both abroad and in Ireland with shows in America,
Germany, and the Netherlands, along with the Irish Exhibition of Living
Art, Taispeántas an Oireachtas. Her solo exhibitions include: Dublin
Painters Gallery, Dublin (1946,48); Dawson Gallery, Dublin (1963,66);
New Gallery, Belfast (1964,67); Toronto University's Canadian Association
for Irish Studies (1968); Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin (1971-72);
University of Winnipeg, Canada (1975); Caen, France (1979); Taylor
Galleries, Dublin (1981,94); Sligo Art Gallery (1984,89); Dublin George
Gallery, Mini Retrospective (1990); and Royal Hibernian Academy Gallagher
Gallery, Retrospective (1995).
Anne Yeats died in 2001. A memorial exhibition
of 20 paintings and drawings, including sketchbooks donated by her brother
Michael Yeats, was held at the National
Gallery of Ireland in 2002, the year after her death. She donated
her collection of Jack B. Yeats' sketch books to the National Gallery
of Ireland, enabling the creation of the Yeats Museum within the Gallery.
Her paintings are held in private and public collections worldwide, including
(in Ireland): The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin; The Hugh
Lane Municipal Gallery, Dublin; The Ulster
Museum, Belfast; Trinity
College, Dublin; Sligo County Gallery, Sligo; The Arts
Council of Ireland.
