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(BIRDSONG ECHOES)

Susan and Elizabeth Yeats,

through their work

and through their passions, they were publishers,

printers, teachers, businesswomen,

artists, embroiderers.

And they happened to be sisters.

I don't think they ever knew they were utterly brilliant,

and that's part of the big problem for a lot of women artists,

they don't get the recognition in their own lifetime.

The two of them were kind of forced together,

forced together due to their family circumstances.

The Yeats name is so well known,

yet so little is known of these extraordinary women.

For a lot of the work that they did, they weren't even name-checked.

They were just known as, "This work was done by

the sisters of W.B. Yeats."

They're clearly strong, creative, really, really interesting women.

But why are they diminished in history in this way?

So I wonder how much of their work has been lost

because they weren't even named.

There are role models, and there are examples out there

that allow women to see that something can be done differently.

I don't think you can underestimate that kind of importance

to society. I'm hoping, in some way,

that telling their story

will give them the respect that they deserve.

Can you tell me a little bit more about their childhood

and their upbringing, and do you think that had an impact

on them, as such different personalities?

The key thing is actually the...

the disturbed nature of their childhoods.

Very early after the marriage,

John Butler Yeats gave up being a barrister,

decided to become a painter full-time.

He wasn't making money from that. So that, in a way,

disturbs the whole dynamic of the family.

It put huge pressure on his wife, Susan,

who had a certain expectation, having come from a well-off family,

and she had certain domestic expectations which,

in a sense, weren't being met by her husband.

The fact that their father effectively lived his own life,

he didn't think about providing for his family at all.

John Butler Yeats also moved to London

because he felt it was better... a better opportunity

to make his living as a portrait painter,

which he was specialising in.

John Butler Yeats had this old-fashioned idea

that he, as the artist, would create, and then there would be

these wealthy but culturally aware people

that would support him as a patron.Patrons.Exactly.

We all want one of them.Exactly. Wouldn't it be just lovely if-

Pay me to do what I want! Exactly.(LAUGHS)

And his son, I think, the poet, aspired along the same lines

of believing that if people have the ability and the means

to support you, that they should.

The children, as they arrived, really experienced

this very fragmented domestic structure.

So sometimes they were in Dublin,

sometimes they were in Sligo, sometimes in London.

And that instability, I think, had a huge impact on them.

Particularly had an impact on the two girls,

because they were aware, they watched their mother,

who was a very frail woman, in terms of her physicality.

She was prone to illness.

She had, I think, her first stroke in her 40s,

and was really, then,

effectively an invalid until her death.

And they were hugely aware

of how vulnerable that made her, as a woman

who wasn't adequately supported by her husband.

The sisters, looking at their mother, I think, felt,

"We need to be independent women."

You know, "We need to have a skill.

We need to be able to look after ourselves.

We cannot necessarily depend on any man to do that for us."

So later on in his life, I think John reflects.

There's letters that he writes, that he reflects on the burden

that he put on his daughters.

These young women who, instead of having a social life

and being out and living their own lives,

living independent lives, are, in fact, at home,

keeping home for their father and for William.

William Butler Yeats, he comes and goes.

He'll stay with different people. The brother stays with other people,

but he comes home and expects to be looked after.

So the young women are pooling their resources

and they are sustaining the house.

MALE VOICEOVER: 'I had the pain and humiliation of seeing Lily and Lolly

hard at work to keep the house.

Lily, all day with that she-cut, May Morris,

saving her 15 shillings a week and bringing it home to my house.

Lolly also hard at work, lecturing and teaching.

These young girls cut off from the pleasant things

that belong to their station,

without girlfriends or men friends.

And all my fault.

And there, behind all, was my poor wife.

I knew perfectly well that it was this terrible struggle

with want of means that had upset her mind.

You may say I had Willie's success and growing fame to comfort me.

Yes, but I had not his respect.

How could I have it?

I had not my own.'

If you think about them in London, Lily was working

with William Morris, the leading figure

in the arts and crafts world. She's working his embroideries

and she's bringing in an income. Elizabeth...

everybody forgets this about Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was... she trained as a Froebel teacher.

She was trained as an art educator.

She was an inspector, a regional inspector.

IMELDA: Oh, I didn't know that. And she was a published woman.

She had an incred... and she had a very solid income.

And that income came into that house and helped sustain-

That was Elizabeth.Elizabeth, then Lily working with William Morris.

They were right at the centre of the London arts and crafts movement,

and that was an amazing opportunity for them.

But one of the issues there was that

the designs were usually provided for the women to execute.

And it was quite frustrating for Susan,

being there quite a while,

being an expert at her craft,

and yet, not having control over the design.

They were learning and studying,

and they were really, really creative

in a world that encouraged that in women,

but not to earn money.

And then suddenly, you know,

they see that they're in a position to earn money,

and they're actually supporting their family.

So they were earning...Yeah. ..a considerable amount.

Well, they were earning a comfortable lifestyle.

I mean, you know, Elizabeth was...

could have been self-sufficient.

She was earning, you know, nearly £300 a year,

which was, you know, a comfortable income.

And Lily was earning about... over... nearly 150 a year.

So between them... and what they do is, say,

rather than setting themselves up independently,

they see it as their duty to maintain the household.

And that includes maintaining their father,

and it also includes maintaining their brother,

to a large extent.

We see John Butler Yeats, you know, he's... Lily is out,

and she's working with William Morris,

and she's bringing back her "X" amount every week or month,

which is absolutely necessary to keep that household alive.

Yet he's almost pretending that it's OK

that Lily does this, because it's embroidery, and it's female,

and it's delicate, and the money is incidental.

And then, the same with Lolly as well.

You know, she was out when... her brushwork publications,

which were absolutely brilliant,

were also a really important source of income for the family.

So they had pressures on them

in a way that other female artists of their time weren't.

Then, Evelyn Gleeson came to the sisters with this proposition.

She knew how talented they were,

and she knew they wanted to move back to Ireland.

So, you know, she saw this as a perfect opportunity

to meet everyone's needs, if you like.

I think that sense, at that point, that perhaps Dublin was the place

to be, rather than London.

Perhaps there was this really, kind of, vibrant,

interesting, multifaceted,

kind of, cultural development going on there.

And they were really attached to Ireland, emotionally.

And I think this was a perfect marriage, in a way,

of the emotional attachment from childhood

and then the sense that this was a place where they could

express themselves as artists. And they were, at the time,

successful within the William Morris workshop,

but kind of frustrated as well.

So that sense in which this really offered an opportunity

for them to have their voices heard and their work produced,

I think is a key thing.

And then you have Lily and Lolly and obviously, Evelyn Gleeson,

looking at the same thing. Looking at the idea

that there's this amazing creativity for women,

and there are certain ways in which they can make money,

and they can, I suppose, use their creativity

to support themselves or to support their families.

And then this obligation, almost,

to teach other women, and to use your skills.

So not to plough this solo furrow

of the portrait artist, or anything like that.

Their work was hugely important in terms of the collective

and the cooperatives that they developed.

And that's why, I think, the move to Ireland,

the founding of Dun Emer

was not just a way of getting back to Ireland, a way of earning money.

It was also a way of getting control over their own artistic lives.

The first thing we're showing you is the photo album.

And this was assembled by Elizabeth herself,

and all the handwriting that you see here is from Elizabeth.

And this is invaluable to us because it gives us

such insight into what was going on...Yes.

..and who all the individual people are. This is Evelyn Gleeson,

who was her partner, if you remember her.

She helped set it up, so they worked in partnership.Yep.

She provided most of the... well, the financial support.

And then, of course, the sisters brought the connections

and of course, their skills. Evelyn Gleeson was a suffragette,

and one of the things that she said is that she wanted

to create a community where women could learn

to live independent lives, which is an incredible idea in 1903.

And the idea would be that between herself

and the eight sisters, is that they would teach young women a craft

that they could, as I say, go out and work in the industry,

and have their own source of income,

which was so, so important. And so radical as a way of thinking,

when it was a time when either you got married,

or even maybe entered the church or something like that.

And this here is Lily.Yes. There she is, there.

And then, this is Elizabeth. Yeah.

Elizabeth, of course, Lily worked in needle-craft and embroidery.

That's right.And then Elizabeth, she worked as a printer.

When Elizabeth went to study printing,

when she went off to England,

that normally takes quite a long time?

Traditionally, the men who went to study printing,

and they were men.

It was a completely male-dominated profession,

they would've had to have a connection, a father,

a grandfather, an uncle or somebody, who would get them into the trade.

Then they would have taken on seven years of training.

So they'd have signed this indenture where they couldn't drink

or gamble, or... they couldn't marry,

which is-For the whole seven years? For the seven years.

So while that's OK when you're maybe 13, 14, signing this form,

when it comes to the end of the seven years, obviously,

it's a bit more... So it's like a vocation, really.

Signing up to something. Yeah, to a certain extent.

Yeah, but it was good profession then, when they were through it.

It was a good job and, you know, it was paid well.

And then we go over.

And then we have this.Oh, look. I just love looking at this.

Yeah. This is such a beautiful photograph.

Isn't it? With the light coming in and everything as well.

Oh, that's just so beautiful. It's just... atmospheric.

It wasn't just simply a workplace,

but the idea was that it had to be this centre of creativity.

You know, to inspire each other and to...

to support each other as well.

You said Elizabeth did this? Yes. She put these...

she assembled this. I mean, this is personal.

Of course it's personal. This is... this is with love.

You don't sit making a scrapbook of photographs

of people unless it is a family- Absolutely.

And literally telling the story.

This idea of returning to an idea of community,

of working and supporting each other locally,

also using local materials, serving a local market.

Maybe within in embroidery, it would've been traditional to have

women embroiderers, but within printing,

it wasn't accidental that they employed only women.

Yeah, no, it wasn't. It wasn't. It was very deliberate.

Very deliberate, and that again,

I think was them being really involved

in the movement at the time. You know, to try

and develop these girls, and to try and create a space,

that women could have the power and the capacity to be creative,

but also, to earn a living.

FEMALE VOICEOVER: 'The Dun Emer Press.

Though many books are printed in Ireland,

book printing as an art has been little practised here

since the 18th century.

The Dun Emer Press has been founded in the hope

of reviving this beautiful craft.

The pages are printed at a hand press by Miss E.C. Yeats,

and simplicity is aimed at in their composition.

The first book printed has been In the Seven Woods,

a new volume of poems,

chiefly of the Irish Heroic Age, by W.B. Yeats.

The edition is limited to 325 copies,

and the book will not be republished in this form.

It is now ready. Price, ten shillings and sixpence a copy,

payable in advance.'

We are very fortunate here to have examples

of some of the first books that Elizabeth published.

And what we have here... this is the very first book

that was published. And what we're also very fortunate to have,

is this is her own personal.

So this was designed by herself, Elizabeth Corbet Yeats.

So this is her bookplate that she painted.What a beautiful design.

Isn't it gorgeous? Oh, my God, that's...

And there's her fine signature, and if we move over here, then...

"In the Seven Woods: being poems chiefly

of the Irish Heroic Age by William Butler Yeats."

You see there, so, that's the Revivalist ideas

of going back to Ireland's ancient past.Yeah.

And then here, you see the date, which is 1903,

and she's still working with Evelyn Gleeson at this point,

with the Dun Emer Press. But very famous,

probably one of the most famous things is this, the part in red.

"Here ends In the Seven Woods,

written by William Butler Yeats, printed upon paper made in Ireland,

and published by Elizabeth Corbet Yeats

at the Dun Emer Press in the house of Evelyn Gleeson at Dundrum

in the county of Dublin, Ireland,

finished the 16th day of July

in the year of the big wind, 1903."

Isn't that so Irish? "The big wind." It's just so gorgeous.

And of course, this idea of the "big wind," you know

that Joyce made the reference to them,

you know James Joyce referenced the sisters?Yes.Yeah.

Do you know what he said?Yes, yes. He described them as...

"weird sisters."Yeah. He also mentions "big wind"

in Ulysses as well, in reference to this, also.

Was he mocking them?

He was, but it was really about William,

because he was annoyed cos William never invited him

to publish with Cuala.

So we think that's what he was a bit annoyed about.A little dig.

Yeah. A little dig.

So there's this combined idea that they were creating

beautiful things, with Irish hands,

that were to be seen around the world,

and showing what we could do. But also,

running a business and attempting to earn money.

How profitable it was or wasn't, you know,

we can we can talk about that, but from a visual perspective,

to provide that example to other women was something

that was really important.

That was the thing they did. They took the language,

the stories, the cadences

of Irish language and Irish people,

and then they re-presented them in English,

which is just lovely. But I love this.

This is signed by E.C. Yeats and then, Lady Gregory.

But look, somebody later on put it... the printer.

Just to be clear between the difference, between the...

I wouldn't be surprised if that was Elizabeth.

(CHUCKLES) I wouldn't either. I think that might be what happened.

"Just to be clear, what I've done and who I am..."(CHUCKLES)

Yeah, but isn't that interesting?

That it's something you wear. It's not just a craft,

it's not just a trade, but she wears it.

And it's not tokenism, because this is real work,

really engaging with the arts community at the time.

What I'm adamant about and passionate about

that we're not telling the story

of the sisters of such and such.

No, exactly.Their contribution is a hefty contribution

to... to the arts in Ireland.

Elizabeth spent one month at the Women's Printing Society

in London.Wow. Yeah.

So I think it just shows to me that she obviously must've had

a natural ability for it, I'd say, and then also...

great... I think great confidence

in herself to be able to take on something

as elaborate as running a press

with only so little training behind her.

And then she became a teacher, so it wasn't that

she was just bumbling around.

Well, I suppose that's the thing, is it forces you to learn it properly

when you have to teach it to somebody else, don't you?

Well, she came from this background of being an artist

and doing so many things beforehand

that I'm sure stuck to her.

LUCY COLLINS: I think it's also interesting that one of the things

that's often overlooked about Elizabeth's achievement

is her achievement as a teacher. Yes.

Because she was hugely committed to teaching,

and anyone who interacted with her in that environment describes

how energised she was, you know, how passionate she was

about the teaching process. And that explains why, I think,

she puts so much effort into teaching

and educating and training the young women in Dun Emer,

because she was committed to that education project,

and she did lots of other teaching in other environments as well.

This is one of the wonderful things that she did,

and people often don't think about, is that

she actually wrote and produced books

teaching young children how to paint.

And also, they were very popular among teachers.

They were successful? Very successful.

She had over three different publications,

three different volumes.

There was an interesting a phrase that she once used,

which has really stuck in my mind, where she says,

"Every child must have a paradise."

That was, you know, one of the... the sort of ethos

of the Froebel movement was that idea...Oh, I love that!

..that you support the child, you know, to discover, to be creative.

And this was really part of her.

I think she really internalised that view.

And so, that idea that education gave opportunities

for people to express themselves in their own way

is really important to her personality.

And it's not given enough credit, I think,

in terms of her interaction in the wider business,

if you like, is that education piece was really core.

So this...So let's go back into this, please.

So this is, you can see, "The Dun Emer..."

"..Fancy Dress Party by 'The Visitor.'"

So this is a poem telling of the story

of when the girls got all dressed up, each of them.

So you can see here, all of them, in each of their finery.

But if we turn the page,

you can see here as well. Look at this!Oh, look.

And one dressed up as a Spanish lady.

Oh, I love it! It's so gorgeous. Another one dressed up

as a Chinese lady. Isn't it lovely?

And these are all the girls. "The blue God mighty,

and unto you I bow the knee.

Though we have shaken hands when you were Beattie Cassidy.

And here's the Botticelli wearing rose, a smiling face.

Oh, Pot of Jelly Lady, tell me where...

are time and space." Absolutely gorgeous.

Imagine. Imagine being a young girl,

and if you think of your life at that time, I mean,

I'm imagining myself, a young girl growing up in rural Ireland

and stuff. And somebody writes a poem about you,

and put you into it. Imagine that world.

All of a sudden, you feel things are possible.

MALE VOICEOVER: 'My dear Willie,

I see that there is some friction between you and Lolly.

And I daresay there have been mistakes made.

Only don't let irritation or unreasonableness

of any kind bear sway.

To make Dun Emer a pecuniary success

is a matter of life and death to Lily and Lolly.

And this is very much a matter of small economics,

saving time, saving labour.

And besides, Lolly is always overworked,

especially so now,

when she is not only working all day,

but every evening as well, till bed time,

designing and painting fans which Liberty has commissioned.

And though it is not really strictly right,

all this evening work done by Lolly in her extra hours

goes to the credit of Dun Emer,

and has always done so.

Dun Emer is, as it appears to them,

their only one chance of ever having any sort of support in life.

And that is why they are so keen about things,

and everything devolves on them.

They have to do the thinking and working in Dun Emer.

I often wonder of this devotion and tirelessness.

Things are certainly progressing,

and they are, I think, much less anxious and tired.

Last winter, it was something terrible.

I hope you won't mind my suggesting that you're gentler with Lolly.

If things go wrong, she gets much exasperated.

She gets quite ill. Please don't say I have written.'

In terms of the family dynamics, there was quite a bit of friction

between William, between W.B. Yeats and Elizabeth.

Yeah.Their personalities just really didn't gel.

And this became a problem later on

cos they were working quite closely together

on the publication of the books.

Susan was closer to William.

She was much more attached to the west of Ireland.

She was more... in a sense, more domestically rooted,

more interested in family and children.

You know, that kind of environment.

Whereas Elizabeth was more the businesswoman,

you know, she was more the public figure. So they... in a way,

their personalities determined their roles.

But also, I think within the family, too,

the sense that they were seen by their father,

for example, as very different

in terms of their personality and abilities.Yes.

He was a good deal closer to Susan, for example, than to Elizabeth.

And so, in a way, the way they were treated

by their... both their brothers and their father,

also, in a sense, separated them as personalities even further.

They very much committed to the family.

And that sense of family unit is very strong in them.

Yes.So when people talk about, you know,

that there was friction between them, that there was disagreements,

particularly between Elizabeth and between William,

yet at the same time, there is that core strength

of family that determines what they did.

They were a strong family, really talented.

They were.I mean, there's friction in every family.

There was, and there's no doubt, the only thing is, unfortunately,

they've had a lens put on them... Yes...so that we know that.

Evelyn Gleeson. She was...

I mean, she started off a huge amount.

Can you tell me a little bit about her and about the relationship

with Susan and Elizabeth? The sisters weren't in a position

to contribute money. They contributed skills and commitment,

but not money. And the sisters were not....

the way the business model developed didn't really allow the sisters

to make much money, because the money was, in a sense,

being ploughed back into the education of the girls and so on.

And the sense that Evelyn didn't feel there was enough support

coming from the sisters' side.

The house that the press

and the embroidery workshop were run from

was also Evelyn Gleeson's home.

So she was living in that house,

whereas the Yeats family were living elsewhere

about half an hour's walk from that house.

And so straightaway, I think

that created a bit of an imbalance between the sense

that Evelyn was at the centre of things,

in terms of that, sort of, physical arrangement,

whereas the two sisters were at a bit of a distance.

So in the end, they had a direct split,

I think in 1909. So it was...

Dun Emer lasted about six years,

and then they split formally, legally,

and the sisters started a new brand, the Cuala Press.

And then, what we have here is that this is...

you'll notice this little note. Ah. "We separated from Miss Gleeson

in 1908, and named our industries 'Cuala.'"

And that's a big... that's a big moment.

Yeah. Imagine the courage that that took.

Yeah. As women, you know,

to say, "No, we can set ourselves up,

we can make a go of this."

FEMALE VOICEOVER: 'September 7th, 1911.

Dear sir, I send you the two books you ask for,

and thank you for your cheque.

I think you have sent us too liberal postage.

But I will write to two people I know

who may like to sell their Dun Emer Press books,

and use your stamps for that.

It was a great pity that we had to change our name, Dun Emer,

as it does, of course, make confusion in people's minds.

But we gained so immensely in every other way

in moving from Dun Emer

that we had to let that one point go,

and take a new name. Cuala.

Cuala is the old Irish name

of the baronies of South Dublin and North Wicklow.

Yours sincerely, E.C. Yeats.'

But interestingly, the unions in the UK

at the time didn't permit women

to be hired as printers,

because it was heavily unionised business.

And the idea was that women would have actually undercut

the male printers, you know, would sell their labour cheaper.

And so, it was very difficult to actually hire women printers.

And William Morris had a press woman, if you like,

and he had to go to court to enable her

to continue the work.What? Yeah.

So the sisters... well, Elizabeth in particular,

would have known that this was an issue,

like, a sort of political issue, if you like.

So when they were setting up the press

with all women workers, they would have known that issue.

Oh, my God, they knew! Yeah.I had no idea.

I mean, that's... that's fascinating.

And they... they went ahead with it anyway.Mm.

FEMALE VOICEOVER: 'With taste and wisdom,

Miss Yeats attempted nothing fantastic.

Her type, modelled on simple lines,

is readable as well as beautiful.

And her pages always seemed to us

to be excelled by none of our more famous presses,

except the Doves.

In another way, the books of the Cuala Press

have been far more interesting than those of any other press.

Morris, the Vale Press, the Essex House, the Doves,

on the whole confined their efforts

to the reproduction of classic works, already well known,

and often procurable in beautiful editions.

The great majority of Ms Yeats's books

have been by modern authors,

and have often been the first appearance in print

of important works.

So far as we can remember,

no non-Irish author has been printed,

except Tagore.'

Finally, you get to actually see

some of the most beautiful things that they created.

This is so exquisitely beautiful.

I mean, the thread,

every movement, and the choice of colours

to show the light and the shades. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, the skill is extraordinary

on every different stitch.

OK, so this is a bit different from the one you just saw.

That was much earlier, 1906.

This is dated about 1930, 1939.

So obviously when they're older, and later on, and at a time

when Lily was, I suppose...

the embroidery business wasn't really up and running

as it happened, so she was still working

but taking on smaller commissions, and things that interested her.

This is just really, really gorgeous.

This is gorge... and it's so bold where it's positioned,

with the Abbey Theatre right across the middle.

Yeah, it's a beautiful piece.

Can really get the ambience of an evening at the theatre.

I think this is my favourite. This is a piece of art.

This is not functional, this is for your wall.Yeah.

And it's to enjoy, and the Abbey Theatre,

I mean, this also ties into the Revivalist movement.Yeah.

This is where new ideas were coming to light and people were...

..pushing against them. And so, the women would have been very aware

of all of this and very, you know, involved

in that kind of idea of the change in Irish society.

So just still keeping a little bit of a focus on Elizabeth,

we took this out. It's a hand-painted fan by Elizabeth.

So Elizabeth painted this herself, yeah.

And you can just see, it's absolutely gorgeous.

It's just got the floral scene.

It's got a, kind of, dark woodland scene here.

And then just in the top-right corner is a poem

by her brother, W.B. Yeats. Oh, there is.

If you can lean in, you can see that.

"Sigh, oh, you little stars

Oh, sigh, and shake your blue apparel

The sad, sad thought has gone

from 'the novel variably'

Sing! O, you little stars, sing,

and raise your rapturous carol

to mighty Brahma, He who made you

many as the sands, and laid you

on the gates of evening with his quiet hands."

(GASPS) It's gorgeous, isn't it?

It's so gorgeous.

(BELL TOLLS)

This is the beautiful little church, St Nahi's on the outskirts of Dublin.

Underneath the stained glass windows are pieces of art

by Susan Yeats.

They're not the easiest to find.

There's some other pieces in St Brendan's,

in Loughrea, County Galway,

but they're mostly within in private collections,

including that of the church.

So here they are.

Beautiful pieces of work.

Again, the movement.

The water, the waves breaking against the rock.

The barley, you can see the wind blow through it.

It's really something special.

And the reason that a lot of the work that we're seeing...

..are religious or in churches,

it's not because Susan and Elizabeth were particularly religious,

it's because it's the church commission.

So, they were working.

And this was their...

they got paid and made the business work,

and produced fine, fine, high quality art for all to see.

I mean...

..it's really inspirational.

Lovely.

The detail in all the tiniest flowers,

even the long ones here at the base of the tree trunk,

the twists.

It looks like wildflowers.

And outlined in black, which seems to...

mirror the stained glass windows

that they knew they would be sitting amongst.

Not a coincidence, I'm sure.

They knew what they were doing, they were so...

expertly done.

I mean, the expression... it's just... the tree, look at that.

(GASPS)

It's so emotive.

Mm, heavenly.

The brother, Jack Yeats, would often design

beautiful designs, that they would turn into a reality.

And how lucky are we

to have such a family of creativity in art

that created such pieces for us to enjoy...

..right here, in little churches like this?

(BELL TOLLS)

So now what we're looking at is an example of...

..embroidery, needle-craft, by Lily Yeats.

It's also original design,

because this was designed by Elizabeth.

Oh, so it was designed by Elizabeth.Yep.

But embroidered...Embroidered by her sister.By Lily.

Yeah, Lily, even though... isn't that funny? Because we just saw

the paintings Lily could do. Yes.

But she didn't make her own designs. She tends to depend on the others,

so Jack did designs for her, Jack's wife did designs for her.

So she tended to let other people do the designing,

and then she did the stitch work afterwards.

This is a beautiful one. It's beautiful.Isn't it?

Did you ever do needle-craft yourself?

Yes, my mother was a seamstress.

No! So you understand embroidery?

Yeah, yeah. OK. So you can see...

so here, it's pretty much... you can see-The lines are just so perfect

and beautiful, the movement in that is gorgeous.

And also, you can see as well, the gift of the embroidery.

Look at the tonal range. You see that?

So it's not flat, but it's a sort of-

But the depth of it...Absolutely. ..as it goes back is just...

Yeah, I love that effect.

You know, the rhythms of the linear.

FEMALE VOICEOVER: 'My dear Willie,

I will send you on Thursday

a note of the amount of the sales of prints and cards this year.

Of course, December ought to be very good for these things,

and that will not appear.

When the Christmas fuss is over, we can give you any figures

that you think will be of use to you

in thinking out a plan for the future of Cuala.

What Cuala needs is another director,

or editor, if you prefer the term,

as well as yourself.

You, on Sunday, kept comparing the Abbey Theatre to Cuala,

but the Abbey always has had more than one director.

You want someone who would understand the purely practical side,

the daily workings of the place.

You say yourself that you do not understand the practical side,

yet you will not listen to me.

And I do understand that side of Cuala.

I don't want to worry you more, no,

I want to take this worrying thing off your shoulders.

I have been really knocked up since Sunday

and so bitterly disappointed.

I looked forward to seeing you again and having a talk

on the whole thing.

Do think over my idea of another director for Cuala.

Your affectionate sister.'

Oh, they're beautiful.

Oh, the colours are amazing.

Absolutely stunning.

Would this have been a joint effort of Susan

or the whole team of Dun Emer, all the...?

It would be the whole workshop that would have worked on them.

So, it is a product of the workshop, but the designs,

all but two of the designs are Jack's.

So again, it's that sense of the family collaboration

in the business, you know,

bringing their skills together in that way.

It's really beautiful. It's a really beautiful example of that,

I think, as well.It's really, really... to see it up close, here,

and in this tiny...Yeah. ..it's really...

Like you can almost touch it, it's amazing.Stunning.

Yeah, the shine on it and the texture. I mean, it's just gorgeous

to be able to see it.

'Susan would sometimes work within the printing.

Elizabeth would sometimes work within the embroidery sections.

But predominantly, Susan was

the expert embroiderer.

She worked on a William Morris, a May Morris in London,

and brought her skills and expertise back to Ireland

to teach the women and the girls

of Cuala Press and Dun Emer.'

I mean, that... St Ita...

her face is just absolutely beautiful.

Really, really beautiful.

Oh, look.

"Cards printed by Lolly Yeats

at Cuala Press, hand-coloured."

These are so pretty. "Good humour and good nature,

friends at home that love you,

and friends abroad that miss you,

you possess all these things and more innumerable.

And these are all sweet things,

you may extract honey from everything."

Oh, that is gorgeous.

"And these are all sweet things

you may extract honey from everything.

Charles Lamb."

That's such a pretty card. So, people...

would people send these cards to each other?Yeah. Yeah.

And the artwork is just gorgeous. Yeah, they're all hand-coloured,

I mean, that's so time-consuming. So each one, would they have...?

They would be printed first and then hand-coloured.

Hand-coloured and then sent on. Yeah.

I mean... Really beautiful to have them.

So gorgeous.

If you listen to the language of the street,

you'll get that wonderful musicality.

The rhythm.Exactly. That is lost in high English,

high spoken English. Absolutely.

These two books are by W.B. Yeats,

edited, and they're fabulous, and they're full of that...

Gorgeous. And the idea of these is that

William Butler Yeats wanted people to sing them out loud,

to say them out loud, so you have this wonderful rhythm

and cadence of the language.

These are about singing.

These are about speaking out, and enjoying words,

and I thought you'd love that. I love it.

Of course, this wonderful old Dublin song,

which is the Spanish Lady.

# As I was walking through Dublin City

# At the hour of 12 at night

# Who should I see but a Spanish Lady

BOTH SING: # Washing her feet by candlelight

# First she washed them, and then she dried them

# Over a fire of amber coal

# Never in all my life did I see

# A girl so neat about the sole

# Whack for the toora loora lady

# Whack for the toora loora lee

# Whack for the toora loora lady

# Whack for the toora loora lee #

And there she is. Isn't she fabulous?

Isn't she gorgeous?I think that's based on the house up at...

..up in Portobello, where, actually, Jack Yeats ended up being.

This is where the Cuala Press was

after Elizabeth and Susan parted ways with Evelyn Gleeson.

They moved into this little place.

And here, in behind these walls, was a revolution.

With their workforce of only women.

And they went against the grain, and they did it anyway

at a time when there was a lot of negativity,

certainly for the Irish abroad.

And there was caricatures of them being portrayed

as monkeys, being portrayed as lazy, foolish,

feckless, and they changed all that from here.

They changed that by sending positivity out, and people bought it

when they were away, missing home, sent it to each other,

with all these beautiful paintings and drawings

and artistry and poetry. And in this door,

W.B. Yeats would've been going in and out,

and chatting and arguing, and the brothers and sisters falling out

behind these walls. And they were a happy workforce.

All these women, pictures of them standing at the gates

in their long dresses, with their flowers,

sitting, having picnics in the back, fortune-telling,

telling the tea leaves, celebrating when somebody was getting married.

Bringing their babes in later on to show off,

and pass the knowledge on. All of this,

from this little place, these four walls.

I would love to hear what they were chatting about,

but you can feel the happiness from it.

And you hear of the Yeats throughout the world

for all of these years, and the sisters were working hard in here

and sending out the positive vibes

and the pride of Ireland.

Something else.

FEMALE VOICEOVER: 'My dear Papa,

you are a heartbreaking father to have.

Fancy going back on your word now,

and saying you won't come home.

Of course, you WILL come home.

You can't cast off all your family like that,

and we have such heaps of things to talk about.

I got your room done up

while Lily was away. It was a good chance.

You ought to want to see your daughters.

When you were at home with us, you appeared to appreciate us.

And Lily I know you found a most companionable person.

And she's no different, except that her hair is grey.

She is just as good company as ever she was,

and I think I have improved with the years.

Not so irritable.'

IMELDA: Did they see themselves as feminists?

No, I don't think they did see themselves as feminists.

It's interesting, if we look at the books, for example,

that Elizabeth published, she only published four women.

In the whole history of the Cuala Press,

only four women were published.

But it's interesting, too, if you look at their encounter

with Lady Gregory, for example, who's another huge figure

of the Revival, a very important woman.

She wasn't interested in the sisters. You know,

she actually thought that W.B. Yeats was sort of wasting his time

getting involved in the Cuala Press,

and putting effort and energy into it.

She didn't rate the sisters, wasn't really interested in their work,

so there's some strange moments in the history of the Revival

where we would expect the women,

together, to be making common cause. And they're not,

you know, they're all involved in their own, kind of, projects.

But I think the two Yeats sisters had strong personalities

and great talent in themselves,

so they didn't necessarily need to lean on other women

in order to move forward.Yeah. But they did make use

of the wider, kind of, network,

artistic network that they had access to

through their brothers and father.

It's interesting to note that Elizabeth was often seen

as the cantankerous, or less...

less personable of the two. But when we look into their writing

and their works and their scrapbooks,

that's not the case at all. She had quite a great sense of humour,

but it was just because she was such a strong-willed businesswoman,

it was seen as a negative,

whereas Susan was seen as quite amiable.

So obviously, Susan and Elizabeth

didn't always get on particularly well.

They had, you know, mismatched personalities,

and Lily would have been seen...

you know, she got on much better with her father

and with W.B. Yeats.

And Elizabeth was outside the mould, you know,

and, you know, she was the difficult one in the family.

But I often wonder about how that narrative has been perpetuated,

because Lily was, essentially, the archivist for the family,

and Lily was the one who started, you know, as life moved on,

gathering together all of the family history

and all of the letters, and all of this narrative.

All the stuff that we keep that tells us the stories

about these people. So, Lily controlled

that narrative quite strongly.

Elizabeth did not.

So I often wonder,

is there a slightly skewed picture that we're seeing?

And as you say, because when you actually look for yourself

at the sources, and you actually look at Elizabeth herself,

she's funny, she's strong, she's interesting,

she's charismatic, she's witty.

But that's not always the story that's told.

So who's telling the story,

and where they're getting the sources from is

really, really powerful, because it can often determine

what people think about other people.

It's not often that we get an insight

into the real personal thoughts and feelings

of the sisters.

But there's a very nice piece, or letter, that...

or interesting letter, I should say, that Lily wrote

that sort of shows her being...

thinking about her past

and the decisions that they made in their life.

So if you see it here, just at that paragraph down there.

Oh, yeah, I can see. Yeah.

And this is from Lily? And that's from Lily.

"I have a birthday this week,

and have been thinking back, and come to the conclusion

that the mistake with my life has been

that I have not had a woman's life,

but an uncomfortable, unsatisfying mixture

of a man's and a woman's.

Gone out all day, earning my living,

working like a man for a woman's pay,

then kept house, the most difficult housekeeping

on nothing certain a year.

Brought up Ruth, saw to Hilda's education,

and above all, never lived at home except when ill.

Next incarnation, I hope I will be all woman

and have a woman's life.'

Isn't that... it's very thoughtful.

It's very... That was heartbreaking.

It is heartbreaking, and it's very honest.

That's stoical Lily, as well.

Cos she doesn't normally...

you don't normally hear that part of her voice.

Learning all that I've learned about them

and reading...

you know, seeing their work and their brilliance...

..and reading such a personal letter, kind of...

it makes me all the more grateful for them

and what they did, and what they gave to and gave up.

Yes. And how much

we've all benefited from their lives.

(BELL TOLLS)

"Elizabeth Corbet Yeats.

Gurteen Dhas.

Daughter of John Butler Yeats,

born 11th March 1868,

died 16th January 1940,

and her sister, Susan Mary Yeats.

Born 26th August 1866,

died 5th January..." 1949, that should say.

You feel so grateful, and you learn about people

that you've never met. You know?

There's something very real about going to the graveside

of somebody, isn't there, there's something very real.

That they're here, their remains are here.

It's emotional...

that they're buried together.

And all these missing texts.

Elizabeth would've been furious with that, as a printer.

A very particular woman about detail.

And all of these missing, we'll have to sort that out

for you, Elizabeth.

Thank you.

(DISTANT BELL TOLLS)

(BIRDSONG)

It's lovely that we have so many depictions of them,

so we have them really well represented

in the archive collections, with these lovely photographs

which show them from early life right up until

when they're older women.

But in addition to that, we have two really beautiful portraits

by their father, John Butler Yeats,

here in the collection.

What I always think is interesting about these portraits is

it's almost indicative of his behaviour,

in that one of the reasons why

they were inspired to go and to earn money,

and to be educated was because of his inability to do so.

But we're really lucky. He often did these portraits,

there was never going to be any money. Lily was never gonna pay

her father for a portrait. But really, just out of...

out of his love of painting and his daughters being there,

we now have these two beautiful portraits

here in the National Gallery,

by their father, which is that lovely family connection

which kind of ties them all together.

What a family. What a family.

I mean, they have a whole family collection here.

Yeah, we have Jack Yeats, we've John.

We've W.B., he even works his way into the Yeats archive as well.

So they're all here,

and they really are nothing less than extraordinary.

Then this is beautiful. This is the last one.

Look at this, you see where she's coming.Oh, my God.

There's Elizabeth, look. "Elizabeth C Yeats

coming down from Tara, Abbey Theatre Drama Festival,

August 1938." (GASPS) Which was on top of Tara!

Oh, my heart.

Look at her coming down from the hill.

God bless her, she dies three years later.

That's really moving. I think so,

because that's one of the last pictures, you know, that we see,

in that respect.Ooh! But you see how vital she is?

She's still out. She's climbing the hill of Tara.

Oh, my God. You know, she's part of it.

She's still part of what's going on.

Oh, that is... that's... I think she's amazing, so I do.

Oh, me too. I better not...

Oh, don't start me. If you start me...

I better not cry on your precious book!

(LAUGHS) No, I think Elizabeth might like that, so she might!Oh, my God.

As they got older,

and the stories we have about them become quieter.

We know Lily stepped away from embroidering,

and we don't... we obviously have her letters,

and she's taking on small pieces.

But when they become less involved in the professional world,

their stories, and the archive collection that we have

are a little bit quieter. And Elizabeth,

some of the sources would tell us that later in life, when,

you know, W.B. passed away

and the whole board of the Cuala Press, in particular, was changing,

she felt quite diminished and she felt quite belittled.

She was this, kind of, older woman

who didn't really have a say anymore,

and there was a more male voice stepping in.

The whole idea that society was almost changing,

like, De Valera's constitution was coming in,

and women were being put back in the home.

And, you know, would she have felt a real sadness at that?

You know, having come full circle?

Suddenly now, as this older lady...

she was just being put back to where

she had worked really hard to escape from.

MALE VOICEOVER: 'Dear Miss Yeats, my wife and I send you

these few lines to say how very sorry we are

to think of your sorrow, and of the Cuala Press left desolate.

We have always felt that your sister did very much

to make your brother what he was,

and to keep the Irish movement linked with the progress of the arts,

rather than with violent political upheaval.

We shall ever treasure the Cuala books,

and the memory of your gracious welcome to us years ago.

Let us hope your sister did not pass through much suffering,

and that the work that you began together will continue.

It is just a year today since we had the news

of Willie's death, and indeed there is no comfort

when death falls.

Only courage, such as Willie put into his wonderful last poems,

and the hope, which perhaps grows stronger as time passes,

that death may be more beautiful and wonderful

than even the strongest has yet imagined.

We would like you to know that we think of you,

and wish you some such thoughts as this.'

I think there's a lot that we have to be grateful for.

We're grateful for themselves as women, and themselves...

and leaving this wonderful, rich story of their own lives,

which, of course, teaches us all something.

But also, then, their contribution to, you know, Irish cultural life,

Irish social life. They were very much part of it.

They were leaders, they were directors of that.

And as women, they helped other women find their voice.

So we have to be grateful to them for that.

They weren't just a sister.

They just weren't a daughter.

They weren't just, you know,

people as part of a wider Irish visual and cultural group,

but in fact were very, very important

individual people in their own right.

And I think that's.. I think if we can do that for them,

that would be wonderful.

So, Mary, can you tell me a little bit about

this that you have here in front of us?

So what we have here, Imelda, is we've taken your poem,

and we've set us in Caslon,

which is the typeface that Elizabeth Yeats used

in both Dun Emer and the Cuala Press.

And we've set it in a, kind of, similar style

to how they would have used it. So we have...

they used all caps a lot for their titles and things like that.

And is this, like, the machine that they would have been using?

Exactly. This is similar. This is also an Albion press.

So the iron press, you'll see now when we use it,

we'll close it over, bring it in here and pull this down.

And this is kind of an evolution from the wooden presses

that would've first been developed by Gutenberg

in the middle of the 15th century. OK.

Oh, look at that.

Oh, look at that. (GASPS)

Isn't that beautiful? It's lovely, isn't it?

It comes together so well. That's very, very...

I'm... (GASPS) I'm so thrilled with that.

Thank you so much for that. You're very welcome.

"Beneath The Silken Sun,

for Susan and Elizabeth Yeats.

Sisters in arms and nature by name

Same blood-stained red and red as the word

Imprinting herstory as history bound

Emblazoned by lily white hands

Femina, flora, unfolding in shade

A miss, not amiss...

..past Yeats's gaze

Weaving the fabric of society high

Sorority stoking people's pride

Seamlessly, steadfast, stoic

Now lie entwined in death as in life.

Rest easy so

Your work is done

Lay, sisters

Lay beneath the silken sun."

(SEABIRDS CRY)

As Susan and her little sister, Elizabeth

enjoyed endless summers in Sligo,

running, laughing, sketching, swimming,

little did they know

what life would unfold for them.

Little did they know

that they would become

innovators, trailblazers,

accidental feminists.

Living under the shadow of their brothers

and their father during their life and after their passing,

they're known by the few

and unheard of by many.

Hopefully now you know their story,

you'll talk about them.

Hopefully now,

they'll be recognised for their huge contributions.

And hopefully now, they'll never be forgotten.

That's more like it.

I hope you'd be pleased with that.

You can read all the lettering again.

That's how it should be.

"Elizabeth Corbet Yeats.

Gurteen Dhas, Churchtown.

And her sister, Susan Mary Yeats,

born 26th August 1866,

died 5th January 1949."

And there you are.

That feels... that feels right.

That feels it gives them honour and respect.

I'm hoping they'd be pleased.

(WIND BLOWS GENTLY)

(BIRDS WARBLE)

Perfect.

Are we singing?

# And since it falls

# Into my lot

# That I should rise And you should not

# I'll gently rise and softly call

# Good night and joy be with you all

# So fill to me the parting glass

# Good night And joy be with you all #

Good night to you.

(BIRDS WARBLE)

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