Exciting new exhibition in 2026 inMcMullen Museum in conjunction with the John J. Burns Library, Boston College.
Collaborating in Conflict: The Yeats Family and the Public Arts
In the Daley Family and Monan Galleries | February 1–May 31, 2026
Examining the extraordinary impact the talented Yeats family had on cultural life and the public arts in Ireland during a century crucial to its history, the exhibition features over two hundred works from premier public and private collections. Paintings, drawings, prints, embroideries, books, and letters by patriarch John Butler Yeats and his children William, Lily, Elizabeth, and Jack, as well as William’s daughter, Anne, highlight examples of individual artistry. They also demonstrate how the Yeats family’s artistic expression was varied and deeply collaborative.
Details of the exhibition are listed HERE
In partnership with the Cuala Press Project at Trinity College Dublin, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Yeats Sisters Commemoration Project, this exhibition will honour and celebrate the global footprint of the Yeats sisters’ design heritage.
Elizabeth and Susan (Lily) Yeats were nationally and internationally recognised as leading figures in the Arts and Crafts movement in the early 20th century, but their contribution has perhaps been overshadowed by those of their brothers, painter Jack Yeats and WB Yeats, the poet and Noble Laureate. The exhibition illustrates how the Cuala Industries, which the Sisters founded in 1908, constructed a distinctive and sophisticated form of Irish cultural identity for national and international audiences.
This exhibition is also a collaboration with the Irish Guild of Embroiderers and will include a companion display of a series of contemporary, individual works made by the Guild’s members reflecting on, and reinterpreting, the Cuala pressmark: ‘a lone tree in an Irish landscape’, which was designed by Elizabeth Yeats for the publication of ‘Loves Bitter Sweet’ by Robin Flower, 100 years ago this year.
Delighted to see our exhibition: Elizabeth Corbet Yeats: a neglected heroine
in association with Sligo County Library
continues in Sligo Central Library, until Sept 13th .
We are delighted to announce that Dr Lyndsey McDougall (PhD, Belfast School of Art, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Ulster University) will be welcomed to our Early Researchers’ Platform at the 2025 Yeats Sisters Symposium with a paper titled:
“The Dun Emer Guild and the Loughrea Cathedral Banners: Lily Yeats’ Creative Leadership in the Irish Arts and Crafts Revival”
This paper examines the pivotal role of Lily Yeats as Creative Director of the Dun Emer Guild’s hand embroidery department during the early twentieth century, with a focus on the production of ecclesiastical banners for Loughrea Cathedral (1903–1904). Drawing from archival research and object analysis, the study highlights how Yeats’ leadership exemplified the aspirations of the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement and the wider Irish cultural revival, promoting ideals of creative autonomy, healthy working conditions, and national identity through craft.
Early Researchers’ Platform 2025
The Yeats Sisters Commemoration Project are now accepting proposals from Undergraduate and Postgraduate students who, in researching a dissertation study, have discovered a compelling story. The work must be within the realm of art or women’s history and hold a connection to either the Yeats sisters, the period they lived and worked in, or the wider themes of the arts and crafts movement and/or the Irish revival period.
The platform affords a student an opportunity to highlight their work in a 20 minute presentation at the Yeats Sisters project’s annual symposium, which will be held in Dundrum, County Dublin on July 12th, 2025.
Applications, outlining a 250 word abstract of your proposed paper, the college course you attend and /or your details of your supervisor, should be emailed to:
theyeatssisters@gmail.com
before the closing date of 30 April, 2025.
The chosen researcher will be notified by the end of May, 2025.
There is no fee attaching, however a small honorarium will be presented to the selected researcher.
Winner of the 2024 Sarah Cecilia Harrison Essay Prize
The winner of this year’s prize was Ella Sloane for her essay ‘The education of the work-girls’: Evaluating Dún Emer’s educational objective through the literary and visual material of Leabhar Dún Éimire.
Ella presented some of her work to the Early Researchers’ platform at the 2024 Yeats Sisters Annual Symposium 2024.
Image courtesy of the National gallery of Ireland.
The Yeats Sisters 