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Jack B. Yeats , Irish, 1871-1957

Title

In Memory of Boucicault and Bianconi

Date1937

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions

61 x 92 cm

Signedlower right: Jack B. Yeats

Credit LinePresented, 1977

Object numberNGI.4206

ProvenanceContemporary Picture Galleries; purchased, Harold Jacob, 1940 (at exhibition); Mr and Mrs V. L. Vickerman; presented, Private Collection, 1977 Exhibition HistoryRoyal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, 1939

Jack B. Yeats: Exhibition of 11 Paintings, 5 South Leinster Street, Dublin, November 1939

Paintings, Contemporary Picture Galleries, Dublin, 28 Ocotber - 12 November 1940

In Theatre Street, Contemporary Picture Galleries, Dublin, 26 November - 23 December 1942

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

Society of Scottish Artists 52nd Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy Galleries, Edinburgh, Spring 1946

A First Retrospective American Exhibition, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, March 1951; Phillips Gallery, Washington; De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco; Springs Fine Arts Centre, Colorado; Toronto Art Gallery, Toronto; Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit; New York National Academy, New York 1951-1952

Loan Collection, Town Hall, Sligo, 14-27 August 1961

Paintings, Waddington Galleries, London, 28 March - 27 April 1963

Jack B. Yeats: A Centenary Exhibition, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, September - December 1971; Cultural Centre, New York, April - June 1972

A Borough Portrait, Town Hall, Dun Laoghaire, 14-22 October 1980

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

Label TextIn this painting, in which Yeats merges plausible and embellished memories from his youth, a group of actors in theatrical costume play out their roles in the shallow waters below Glencar Waterfall, Co. Sligo. Charles Bianconi, an Italian immigrant, established a travel service that spread across the country in the nineteenth century. Dion Boucicault, meanwhile, founded a theatre company that toured his own melodramas, two of which, The Colleen Bawn (1860) and The Shaughraun (1874) are referred to here. These melodramas were the first plays Yeats saw.