Event Item: 00007

'Masquerade and Spectacle' Jack B Yeats Exhibition

Exhibition: 18th Jul 2007 to 11th Nov 2007

Source: http://www.nationalgallery.ie

'Masquerade and Spectacle' The Circus and the Travelling Fair in the work of Jack B.Yeats - exhibition at the National Gallery of Ireland.

This exhibition of some 20 paintings, drawn mainly from private collections, focuses on the theme of the circus and the travelling fair in the work of Jack B.Yeats. This subject was crucial to the development of his oeuvre. From his earliest years Yeats had a fascination with such theatrical spectacles, as is evident from his sketchbooks and early pirate plays. The display will include a number of such items from the Gallery's Yeats Archive.

It will also feature both early and late oil paintings and will show how certain motifs such as the clown and the circus horse recurred in Yeats's work over many decades. The theme of the circus provided much more than scenes of tension and excitement as seen for example in The Barrel Man (1912) or The Double Jockey Act (1916). In later works such as This Grand Conversation was Under the Rose (1943), or They Come, They Come (1936), the circus performers become powerful metaphors for the role of the artist and the individual in contemporary life.

Masquerade and Spectacle commemorates the 50th anniversary of the death of Jack B. Yeats, one of Ireland's most acclaimed modern artists. It will include some familiar paintings but will also feature works that have rarely been seen in public before. Through focusing on this specific theme it will demonstrate how Yeats approached his creative work and offer visitors an opportunity to see a selection of outstanding examples of his oeuvre.