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Jack B. Yeats , Irish, 1871-1957

Title

The Double Jockey Act

Date1916

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions

61.3 x 45.8 cm

Signedlower right: Jack B. Yeats

Credit LinePurchased, 1963 (Shaw Fund)

Object numberNGI.1737

ProvenancePurchased, Dr P. MacCarvill, 1945; Dr Eileen MacCarvill; purchased, Private Collection, 1963 Exhibition HistoryAllied Artists Association 9th Salon, Grafton Galleries London, 1917

Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, 1917

The Circus, Leger Galleries, London, 1936

National Loan Exhibition, National College of Art, Dublin, June - July 1945

Aspects of Irish Art, a Loan Exhibition; Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Columbus, Ohio, 27 January - 3 March 1974; Toledo Museum of Arts, Toledo, Ohio, 17 March - 14 April 1974; St Louis Art Museum, St Louis, Missouri, 3 May - 9 June 1974

Jack B. Yeats in the National Gallery of Ireland, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 26 March - 20 April 1986

Yeats: Masquerade & Spectacle UK, Compton Verney House Trust, 27 September - 14 December 2008

Jack B. Yeats - Enter the Clowns: The Circus as a Metaphor, The Model, Sligo, 25 May - 22 September 2013
Label TextThis dramatic image features two performers balancing on the rump of a horse as it canters around a circus ring. The jockeys raise their hats in the air as a clown runs alongside mimicking the movements of the horse and its riders. It was common for the animals’ backs to be dusted with a powder to help the jockeys to balance. This led to the horses being known as ‘rosinbacks’. Yeats was fond of attending the circus and many studies can be found in his sketchbooks.