Roderic O'Conor (17 October 1860 – 18 March 1940) was an Irish painter who spent much of his later career in Paris and as part of the Pont-Aven movement. O'Conor's work demonstrates Impressionist and Post-Impressionist influence.

Early life and training

Born in Milltown,

Castleplunket Castleplunket (),Castleplunket
Placenames Database of Ireland. Retrieved: 2012-04-08. also spelled Castleplunkett, is a sm ...

, County Roscommon in Ireland, O'Conor attended the Metropolitan School and

Royal Hibernian Academy The Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) is an artist-based and artist-oriented institution in Ireland, founded in Dublin in 1823. Like many other Irish institutions, such as the RIA, the academy retained the word "Royal" after most of Ireland became in ...

early in his career. His father, Roderic Joseph O'Conor, acted as a justice of the peace and was appointed high sheriff of the county in 1863. His mother, Eleanor Mary, was brought up in a landowning family from County Meath. The family relocated to Dublin when O'Conor was still a child. He studied at

Ampleforth College Ampleforth College is a co-educational independent day and boarding school in the English public school tradition located in the village of Ampleforth, North Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1802 as a boys' school, it is situated in the groun ...

, and like his classmate, Richard Moynan, travelled to Antwerp before moving to Paris to gain further experience. While in France, he was influenced by the

Impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

Works

In 1892, O'Conor went to

Pont-Aven Pont-Aven (, Breton: 'River Bridge') is a commune in the Finistère department in the Brittany region in Northwestern France. In 2019, it had a population of 2,821. Demographics Inhabitants of Pont-Aven are called ''Pontavenistes'' in French ...

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

where he worked closely with a group of artists around the Post-Impressionist

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

, whom he befriended. His method of painting with textured strokes of contrasting colours also owed much to

Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

Relationship with Somerset Maugham

In the early twentieth century, O'Conor was one of a group of painters, writers and intellectuals who frequented the ''Chat Blanc'', a restaurant in the rue d'Odessa near the Gare Montparnasse in Paris, a group that included

Gerald Kelly Sir Gerald Festus Kelly KCVO (9 April 1879 – 5 January 1972) was a British painter best known for his portraits. Gerald Kelly was born in London, educated at Eton College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and later lived and studied art ...

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

and the young

Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

. O'Conor "took an immediate dislike to Maugham, who later recalled that his presence at the table seemed to irritate the Irishman and he had only to venture a remark to have O'Conor attack it." Maugham had his revenge on O'Conor by using him as the basis for two fictional characters, O'Brien in ''The Magician'' and Clutton in ''Of Human Bondage''. Both portraits are unflattering: O'Brien is "a failure whose bitterness has warped his soul so that, unforgiving of the success of others, he lashes out at any artist of talent", while Clutton is "a sardonic painter who is most cheerful when he can find a victim for his sarcasm". However, it was through O'Conor that Maugham first became interested in

Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

(Maugham travelled to Tahiti and based his novel ''The Moon and Sixpence'' on the life of Gauguin).

Personal life and legacy

In 1933, O'Conor married his partner Henrietta (Renée) Honta, who had sometimes modelled for him. The couple lived in France and Spain, until O'Conor's death at their home in France. He died in Nueil-sur-Layon, France on 18 March 1940. In March 2011, a work by O'Conor sold for £337,250 (€383,993). ''Landscape, Cassis'', an oil-on-canvas, was painted by O'Conor in the south of France in 1913 and sold at

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

for significantly higher than the estimate price.

Works in collections

* Auckland Art Gallery *

Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasure ...

, Belfast * Art Institute of Chicago * Hugh Lane Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin *

National Gallery of Ireland The National Gallery of Ireland ( ga, Gailearaí Náisiúnta na hÉireann) houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on ...

, Dublin *

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is part of the National Galleries of Scotland, which are based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The National Gallery of Modern Art houses the collection of modern and contemporary art dating from about 1900 to th ...

, Edinburgh *

Indianapolis Museum of Art The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres, the Gardens at Newfields, the Beer Garden, and more. It ...

Hunt Museum The Hunt Museum ( ga, Iarsmalann Hunt) is a museum in the city of Limerick, Ireland. The Hunt Museum holds a personal collection donated by the Hunt family, it was originally situated in the University of Limerick, before being moved to its pr ...

, Limerick *

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

, London *

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, New York * Musée d’Orsay, Paris * Musée des Beaux-Arts de Pont-Aven * Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney *

Te Papa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring f ...

, Wellington

Gallery

File:OConor Yellow Landscape 1892.jpg, ''Yellow landscape'', 1892 (The Tate, London) File:Conor bretonne.jpg, ''La Jeune Bretonne'', 1895 (National Gallery, Dublin) File:Roderic_O%27Conor_-_Mixed_flowers_on_pink_cloth_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg, ''Mixed flowers on pink cloth'', circa 1916 (Te Papa, Wellington) File:Roderic o conor green rug.jpg, ''Nude seated on a green rug'', circa 1925 File:O_Connor_seated_woman_in_a_red_dress.jpg, ''Seated woman in a red dress'', circa 1920 File:Roderic O Connor Seated nude with red hair.jpg, ''Seated nude with red hair'', circa 1900 File:Roderic o'comor pont aven.jpg, ''Pont aven'', circa 1895 File:Roderic o conor lezaven.jpg, ''Lezaven'', circa 1894 File:"Les Korrigans sous la lune - The dance of the elves of Pont-Aven" (Moonlit landscape with tall trees) by Roderic O'Conor, ca. 1898-1900.jpg, "Les Korrigans sous la lune - The dance of the elves of Pont-Aven" (Moonlit landscape with tall trees) by Roderic O'Conor, ca. 1898-1900

References

Notes

Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oconor, Roderic 1860 births 1940 deaths 19th-century Irish painters 20th-century Irish painters Irish Impressionist painters Irish male painters People educated at Ampleforth College People from County Roscommon Pont-Aven painters 19th-century Irish male artists 20th-century Irish male artists