"Petitpas"

Bellows, George, 1882-1925 · [1914–1916]

The scene is at "Petitpas," a little French restaurant well over on West Twenty-ninth Street, New York. Here artists and writers liked to gather at the table of the old Irish portraitist, John Butler Yeats, father of William B. Yeats, the poet, and Jack Yeats, Dublin artist. Mr. Yeats, although well on in the seventies, was a delightful conversationalist, a wit and a great lover of beauty. There was always the spirit of youth about his table. In the picture Mr. Yeats, Robert Henri and George Bellows form the group in the foreground. (Bellows) / The elderly gentleman with the white beard is John Butler Yeats. Robert Henri argues earnestly with him while George Bellows, standing between them, listens. Emma, stylish in a black hat, faces the viewer from the center. Marjorie Henri, in the background, sits at a table, drawing. (Mason)