Yeats family collection for sale

The collection of one of Ireland’s most important artistic families of the last century will be offered for sale at Sotheby’s in London on September 27. Illuminating the private world of the Yeats family, the auction will comprise literary material, paintings, drawings and the personal effects of artist John Butler Yeats and his four children: poet W.B, embroidery designer Lily, printing press pioneer Lolly, and artist Jack.

WB’s writing bureau

On which he would have written many of these letters to Olivia (est. £20,000–30,000 / €22,500–33,800). It was used regularly for his correspondence in later years, a period during which he both wrote some of his most memorable verse, and was newly engaged in Irish political affairs.W.B. was, like the rest of the family, also a trained artist. The sale includes both an early sketchbook (which also contains very early poetic drafts) and two pastels of coole, the estate of Lady Gregory which Yeats described as ‘the most beautiful place in the world’ (est. £7,000–10,000 / € 7,900–11,300 and £8,000–12,000 / €9,000–13,500).

John Butler Yeats’ sketchbooks and final self-portrait

The sale will include the largest ever offering of works by John B. Yeats. He is best known for his drawings, of which over 85 are included in the sale along with 11 sketchbooks, depicting his family, the Irish countryside and celebrated contemporaries and friends, such as John O’Leary, Hugh Lane, Sarah Purser and Mary Walker (Máire NicShiubhlaigh). The paintings include his important final self-portrait, commissioned by the New York lawyer, collector and patron of the arts, John Quinn in 1911 (est. £30,000–50,000 / €33,800–56,500).This self-portrait became somewhat of an obsession for the artist. Though work on the picture began in 1911, it would occupy Yeats for the rest of his life, until his death in 1922. “It fills my life. I have never an idle moment or idle thought. It is a long revel, just as satisfying to me as Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and I think I have been at it almost as many years.” – John Butler Yeats

Artist John Butler Yeats (1839-1922)

After a successful early career as a lawyer, John retrained as an artist and went on to work as an illustrator and portraitist for more than five decades. A member of the Royal Hibernian Academy, he was most celebrated for his sketch portraits and counted many Irish luminaries, as well his children, amongst his sitters. After moving his family to London in 1885, he later emigrated alone to New York where he became an influential member of the Irish-American cultural elite. Pictured: John Butler Yeats, Self Portrait holding a palette (est. £20,000–30,000 / €22,500–33,800).

Poet William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

With the publication of The Lake of Innisfree and his collection of poems, The Wind Among the Reeds, W.B. established himself as a brilliant writer of lyrical and symbolist poems. His output was prolific, and his work remains one of the most important Irish contributions to the modernist movement that swept through the 20th century. He was deeply fascinated by the occult. As well as engaging in politics in later life, he also helped found Abbey Theatre, reinvigorating Irish drama as well as poetry and, in 1923, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Pictured: John Butler Yeats, William Butler Yeats Reading in the Garden, 1888/9 (est. £8,000–12,000 / €9,000–13,500).

Embroidery Designer Susan Mary (Lily) Yeats (1866-1949)

Trained in the embroidery workshop of William Morris’s daughter, May, at Kelmscott House, Lily went on to make her own a significant contribution to the crafts industry with her embroidery designs. Susan’s designs were attuned to the nationalistic fervour of the Celtic revival and the influence of her brother Jack is visible in their bold outline. Her physic abilities were said to have been passed down from the Pollexfen family, through her mother Susan. She was her father’s favourite model. A devoted daughter, she wrote regularly to him during his time in New York. Pictured: John Butler Yeats, Portrait of Susan Mary (Lily) Yeats, 1899 (est. £20,000–30,000 / €22,500–33,800).

Printing press pioneer Elizabeth Corbet (Lolly) Yeats (1868-1940)

Having enjoyed first-hand experience of private printing at Kelmscott House under the tutelage of May Morris, Lolly founded the Cuala Press in 1909 with her sister Lily. Situated south of Dublin, the Press played a crucial role in Ireland’s literary renaissance. Lolly drew material for the Cuala Press from her brothers – first editions by W.B., as well as ballads and poems illustrated by Jack. An accomplished watercolourist who published four brushwork manuals, she went on to influence a generation of writers and women artists. Pictured: John Butler Yeats, Portrait of Elizabeth Corbert,”Lolly” Yeats, 1899 (est. £20,000–30,000 / €22,500–33,800).

Artist Jack Butler Yeats (1871-1957)

Jack lived apart from his immediate family as a boy, and was brought up by his maternal grandparents in the small town of Sligo. In this way, he escaped the manifest intellectual influence of his father and the rest of his siblings. Jack had a strong literary bent as an artist – most of his close friends were writers – and first began his career creating comedic cartoons for the press. He had first turned to oils in 1910, and with a determination to be different from other contemporary artists, he set out to express the fundamental essence of the Irish character. One of the most influential Irish artists of his generation, he fundamentally advanced the history of Irish art because of his originality, and refusal to be trapped by convention. Pictured: John Butler Yeats, Jack in a Straw Hat, 1875 (est. £10,000–15,000 / €11,300–16,900).