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

and

Post-Impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction ag ...

influence.

Early life and training

Born in Milltown, Castleplunket,

County Roscommon "Steadfast Irish heart" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Roscommon.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Connacht , subdi ...

in Ireland, O'Conor attended the Metropolitan School and Royal Hibernian Academy 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, and like his classmate, Richard Moynan, travelled to

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

before moving to Paris to gain further experience. While in France, he was influenced by the Impressionists.

Works

In 1892, O'Conor went to Pont-Aven in Brittany where he worked closely with a group of artists around the

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

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, Aleister Crowley and the young Somerset Maugham. 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 (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 for significantly higher than the estimate price.

Works in collections

Auckland Art Gallery Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions. Set be ...

* Ulster Museum, Belfast *

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

* Hugh Lane Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin * National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin * Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh * Indianapolis Museum of Art * Hunt Museum, Limerick * Tate Britain, London * Museum of Modern Art, New York * Musée d’Orsay, Paris *

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Pont-Aven The Musée des Beaux Arts de Pont-Aven also known as Museum of Pont-Aven was created in 1985 with the support of the French Museum Department and the Finistère Conseil Général. The modern wing built in 1985 is reserved for exhibitions and th ...

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

, Sydney * Te Papa, 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