Collaborating in Conflict: The Yeats Family and the Public Arts

Examining the extraordinary impact the talented Yeats family had on cultural life and the public arts in Ireland during a century crucial to its history, the exhibition features over two hundred works from premier public and private collections. Paintings, drawings, prints, embroideries, books, and letters by patriarch John Butler Yeats and his children William, Lily, Elizabeth, and Jack, as well as William’s daughter, Anne, highlight examples of individual artistry. They also demonstrate how the Yeats family’s artistic expression was varied and deeply collaborative. In illustrated poetry, set designs, embroideries for home and liturgical use, printed broadsides, paintings, sketchbooks, and other media, the siblings drew upon each others’ acumen. These endeavors were often fraught with conflict, resulting in creative tensions and financial hardships.