10
Roderic O'Conor (1860-1940)
Estimate:
€15,000 - €20,000
Sold
€14,000
Live Auction
Important Irish Art - 26 November 2018
ARTIST
Roderic O'Conor (1860-1940)
Size
9.75 by 13in. (24.8 by 33cm)
Description
Title: SUNNY DAY IN JUNE, c.1884
Note: This modestly scaled painting from a private collection is of special significance in any overview of O'Conor's early work, as it was exhibited with others in a group of four paintings shown by him in 1885 at the Royal Hibernian Academy's 57th Annual Exhibition in Dublin. His address in the catalogue that year was given as 25 Pembroke Road, Dublin, a large terrace house to which the family had moved in 1882 after they had left County Roscommon.Sunny Day in June is painted in the landscape tradition of French Naturalism, especially that associated with the French Barbizon artists, and it was their practice which was the main influence in Irish landscape painting at that time. Close examination of the painting reveals some of the underlying coarse brushstrokes of the initial priming, over which most of the oil paint has been applied using a short chisel edge brush barely one centimeter wide. In adopting this restrained technique, O'Conor shows an approach to painting which is evocative of Nathaniel Hone's work. Although there is no evidence to confirm the precise location in which he painted this landscape, the rather expansive view which he has chosen for his subject suggests that he may have been in open parkland and raises the possibility that O'Conor may have found his inspiration in Dublin's Phoenix Park.Dr Roy Johnston October 2018
Note: This modestly scaled painting from a private collection is of special significance in any overview of O'Conor's early work, as it was exhibited with others in a group of four paintings shown by him in 1885 at the Royal Hibernian Academy's 57th Annual Exhibition in Dublin. His address in the catalogue that year was given as 25 Pembroke Road, Dublin, a large terrace house to which the family had moved in 1882 after they had left County Roscommon.Sunny Day in June is painted in the landscape tradition of French Naturalism, especially that associated with the French Barbizon artists, and it was their practice which was the main influence in Irish landscape painting at that time. Close examination of the painting reveals some of the underlying coarse brushstrokes of the initial priming, over which most of the oil paint has been applied using a short chisel edge brush barely one centimeter wide. In adopting this restrained technique, O'Conor shows an approach to painting which is evocative of Nathaniel Hone's work. Although there is no evidence to confirm the precise location in which he painted this landscape, the rather expansive view which he has chosen for his subject suggests that he may have been in open parkland and raises the possibility that O'Conor may have found his inspiration in Dublin's Phoenix Park.Dr Roy Johnston October 2018
Medium
oil on panel
Signature
signed and inscribed with title on reverse; also with Taylor Gallery label on reverse
Provenance
Christie's, London, The Irish Sale, 17 May 2002, lot 59Private collection
Literature
Benington, Jonathan, Roderic O'Conor A biography with a catalogue of his work, Irish Academic Press, Dublin, 1992, pp. 23 & 189
Exhibited
RHA, Dublin, 1885, no. 205;'Ireland and the Modern Movement', Taylor Gallery, London, June to July 1990, no. 28 (illustrated)
