Lily Yeats
Lily Yeats | |
---|---|
Born | 25 August 1866 |
Died | 5 January 1949 Dublin, Ireland | (aged 82)
Nationality | Irish |
Education | Dublin Metropolitan School of Art |
Occupation | Embroiderer |
Parent |
|
Relatives | W. B. Yeats (brother) Jack Butler Yeats (brother) Elizabeth Yeats (sister) |
Susan Mary Yeats (/ˈjeɪts/; 25 August 1866 – 5 January 1949), known as Lily Yeats, was an embroiderer associated with the Celtic Revival. In 1908 she founded the embroidery department of Cuala Industries, with which she was involved until its dissolution in 1931. She is known for her embroidered pictures.[1]
Early life and education
Born in
The Yeats family moved to Eardley Crescent,
Career
Lily continued to work under May Morris for six years, but their relationship was strained (she called her employer "the Gorgon" in her scrapbook)
In 1904, the operation was reorganized into two parts, the Dun Emer Guild run by Gleeson and Dun Emer Industries under the direction of the Yeats sisters, and in 1908 the groups separated completely. Gleeson retained the Dun Emer name, and the Yeats sisters established Cuala Industries at nearby Churchtown, which ran a small press, the Cuala Press, and an embroidery workshop. William Butler Yeats's wife George (Bertha Georgina), helped Lily run the embroidery arm of the studio which produced clothing and linens.[6][8]
The Yeats sisters lived together through their adult lives, albeit contentiously. In 1923, Lily fell dangerously ill with what was believed to be tuberculosis while on holiday in London, and her brother lodged her in a London nursing home in July, where she remained until the following April.[10][11] On her recovery, she returned to Cuala, but the embroidery department was never a resounding success. Lily's health deteriorated again in 1931 (her ailment had finally been correctly diagnosed as a malformed thyroid in 1929[12]), and the decision was made to dissolve the embroidery branch of Cuala. At the time, Lily wrote
I never should have taken up the work after my illness. The eight years have been a very great strain, and each year a small loss, adding up.[13]
Lily Yeats continued to sell embroidered pictures in the following years.[13] She died in 1949.[14][15]
Notes
- ^ a b c Allen, Nicholas (2009). "Yeats, Susan Mary ('Lily')". In McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). Dictionary of Irish Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ^ 1881 – Chiswick School of Art, Bedford Park, London, Archiseek, 26 August 2009, accessed 11 August 2022
- ^ a b Faulkner 1995
- ^ a b c Sheehy 1980, p. 158
- ^ Brown 2001, p. 55
- ^ a b History of the Cuala Press
- ^ Shapley, Maggie (2013). "Poole, Ruth Lane (1885 - 1974)". The Australian Women's Register.
- ^ a b Sheehy 1980, p. 161
- ^ Brown 2001, p. 149
- ^ Foster 2005, p. 241
- ^ Saddlemyer 2004, p. 328
- ^ Brown 2001, p. 336
- ^ a b Saddlemyer 2004, p. 477
- ^ Pyle 1989, p. 168
- ^ Trent University Archives, "Susan Yeats"
References
- "History of the Cuala Press". Boston College Libraries Newsletter. Fall 2008. Archived from the original on 24 August 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
- Susan Yeats at Trent University Archives
- Brown, Terence (2001). The Life of W. B. Yeats. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-22851-9.
- Faulkner, Peter (November 1995). "Dark Days at Hammersmith: Lily Yeats and the Morrises" (PDF). Journal of William Morris Studies. 11.3 (Autumn 1995). William Morris Society: 22–25. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 August 2008. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
- Foster, R.F. (2005). W. B. Yeats: A Life Volume II: The Arch-Poet 1915–1939. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280609-2.
- Pyle, Hilary (1989). Jack B. Yeats: A Biography. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0-389-20892-2. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
- Saddlemyer, Ann (2004). Becoming George: The Life of Mrs W. B. Yeats. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-926921-1. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
- Sheehy, John (1980). The Rediscovery of Ireland's Past: The Celtic Revival 1830–1930. Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-01221-0.
Further reading
- Hardwick, Joan. The Yeats Sisters : A Biography of Susan and Elizabeth Yeats. (HarperCollins. Pandora, 1996). ISBN 0-04-440924-9.
- William M. Murphy. "Family Secrets: William Butler Yeats and His Relatives." Syracuse University Press, 1995.
External links
- Dun Emer and Cuala Press publications explored in National Library of Ireland exhibition Archived 3 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- Yeats Society Sligo
- Boston College collection of Yeats family papers at John J. Burns Library, Boston College