To be loved as a cupboard: the Yeats Museum in the National Gallery of Ireland

Eire-Ireland:Journal of Irish Studies, Fall-Winter, 2001 by Hilary Pyle

The museum has also been able to acquire some items by purchase to expand the archive, and there has been an enthusiastic response from the viewing public in donations of Yeats material of different kinds.

Recently a sponsor provided a model theater built to specifications published by Yeats, describing his own original toy theater that no longer exists. In a letter in the archive Anne Yeats relates how at an early age she was given a copy of one of her uncle's miniature plays, The Treasure of the Garden, and, following the instructions, cut out the scenes and characters, only to be reprimanded by her mother:

   At the time I had made myself a little theatre out of an old wooden box, I
   produced little plays, acted all the parts and was the only audience.

   I did the sets, the costumes and the lights--which consisted of little
   torches & bulbs. I was delighted to get the "Treasure" and promptly set
   about cutting out the characters & scenes, intending to mount them and act
   out the play. Unfortunately my mother caught me at it, and was extremely
   angry, she said that I had "cut up a first edition." I doubt whether I had,
   then, ever heard of "first editions," never mind realising their
   sacredness. It seemed to me to be a quite reasonable thing to do, to cut
   out a play intended to be cut out! However I put the play away outright,
   though never out of memory, and now, after 62 or 63 years, I give it to the
   National Gallery, in the hope that they might finish what I began so long
   ago.

The new model theater is now on view in the Yeats Museum, with replicas of those same scenes and figures that the artist's niece cut out. (8) Examples of scenes and characters from the miniature plays by Pollock and others who inspired the artist, and which he collected, are displayed near them from time to time. It is hoped that in the future the museum may be able to put on performances, or host readings of Yeats's adult plays, so that the multi-faceted Life, which he sought to interpret and to translate into paint, may constantly revivify the permanent display.

Jack B. Yeats (1871-1957) was the youngest member of a remarkable family. "I painted because I was the son of an artist," he said; while his father, who had his own aspirations as a writer, attributed the poetic genius of William, his elder son, to his silent, now generally ignored, wife. Jack's two sisters, prominent in the Irish Arts and Crafts movement, were influenced by Jack's originality as a designer. He cooperated with Lily, providing drawings for her art embroidery, and with Elizabeth (Lolly), designing for the Dun Emer and Cuala Presses. He illustrated his brother's books at all periods of his life. So the whole family fit into the Yeats Museum concept.

Because the National Gallery has the finest collection of John Butler Yeats paintings in the world, as well as one of the few authenticated works by W. B. Yeats, it has been possible to show Jack in the context of his family. This strength of the collection has an added benefit, because, as prices for Yeats works continue to soar, the Gallery has become unable to compete on the market. Through the Grand Fund, established some years ago, benefactors from the United States, Britain, Ireland, and Australia have donated funds and artefacts, including a John Butler Yeats portrait, a Jack Yeats watercolor, and a Lily Yeats embroidered picture--all valued acquisitions. Occasionally attainable works of importance come our way; for example, in June 1999, we were able to buy twenty-three of John Butler Yeats's forty-eight illustrations for the Dent edition of Defoe, with two additional drawings that were not used. With recent donations and purchases, as well as one long-term loan, the collection now boasts 172 Yeatses at the time of writing: fifty-seven (including oils and watercolors) by Jack Yeats, ninety-seven by his father, and the rest (watercolors, embroideries, and oils) by William, Lily, and Elizabeth, and by his niece Anne, also a painter. In addition, the collection includes four embroideries by their cousin Ruth Pollexfen, who trained in the Dun Emer workshops as assistant to Lily, and subsequently became an interior designer in Australia.