Bidding on this item has ended.
Roderic O'Conor
SUR LE DIVAN
Lot 67
Price Realised:
€14,000
Estimate:
€15,000 - €20,000
Roderic O'Conor, 1860-1940
SUR LE DIVAN
Oil on canvas, 18" x 22" (45.7 x 55.9cm), stamped verso: 'atelier / O'CONOR'.
Provenance: Studio of Roderic O'Conor. Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Vente O'Conor, 7 February 1956.
The year 1904 was a major...
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Lot 67
Roderic O'Conor
SUR LE DIVAN
Lot 67
Roderic O'Conor
SUR LE DIVAN
Estimate:
€15,000 - €20,000
Roderic O'Conor, 1860-1940
SUR LE DIVAN
Oil on canvas, 18" x 22" (45.7 x 55.9cm), stamped verso: 'atelier / O'CONOR'.
Provenance: Studio of Roderic O'Conor. Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Vente O'Conor, 7 February 1956.
The year 1904 was a major turning point in the life and career of Roderic O'Conor: he left the village of Pont-Aven in Brittany and moved permanently to Paris, turning his back on the country in favour of city life and subjects. Breton peasants, landscapes and seascapes were replaced by still lifes and studies of clothed and unclothed Parisian models posing in his capacious studio. However, whilst drawing from the life model would have been an important part of his academic training two decades earlier, the earliest dated oil on canvas nude that survives was executed in 1909, when he was aged 49. This suggests that when it came to tackling the nude as a subject for easel paintings, he was a relatively late starter. Instead it seems it was the clothed female figure that preoccupied him during his early Parisian period, providing a kind of buffer zone between the demure and well covered up Breton subjects of 1892-1904, and the prolific output of unclothed figures from the 1910s and 1920s.
The present painting came to light recently in France, having belonged to a Breton private collector for several decades. It has all the hallmarks of a work executed during the years 1905-08, taking as its subject a fully clad young woman with her feet stretched out on a divan draped in green. The couch features in other works by O'Conor of similar date, whilst the model's pose recalls that seen in A Quiet Read (National Gallery of Ireland). Here the model returns the painter's glance without flinching, holding her legs slightly bent as he captures the sunlight falling on her white dress with a flurry of white, green, yellow and blue brushstrokes. The bold execution extends to the whole painting, conveying a strong suggestion not only of arrested movement, but also of latent activity: she might get up at any moment, dazzled perhaps by the bright sunlight that falls directly onto her torso and legs, whilst casting deep shadows around her facial features. The fact that the top of her head has been cropped by the edge of the canvas is not inconsistent with the artist's tendency to represent his models with their faces only summarily indicated or, especially in drawings, completely blanked out.
In this work the combination of flowing, gestural brushstrokes with the use of bright red and green intermixed with white has a close parallel in the painting Girl Mending (Cartwright Hall Art Gallery) that also dates from this period. O'Conor used impressionistic works such as these to build a rapport with the model, adopting a close viewpoint so that the canvas edges seem unable to contain the figure. As he got to know the model better he would make more fully worked up compositions - in which the model again wore white or pink - that were usually destined for public exhibition, for example Repos (State Hermitage Museum) and Woman in White (Ulster Museum). To complete these works, however, the Irishman renounced the spontaneous calligraphy of the studies in favour of a dense mosaic of small touches of pigment, akin to the method advocated by his English contemporary, Walter Sickert.
Jonathan Benington
SUR LE DIVAN
Oil on canvas, 18" x 22" (45.7 x 55.9cm), stamped verso: 'atelier / O'CONOR'.
Provenance: Studio of Roderic O'Conor. Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Vente O'Conor, 7 February 1956.
The year 1904 was a major turning point in the life and career of Roderic O'Conor: he left the village of Pont-Aven in Brittany and moved permanently to Paris, turning his back on the country in favour of city life and subjects. Breton peasants, landscapes and seascapes were replaced by still lifes and studies of clothed and unclothed Parisian models posing in his capacious studio. However, whilst drawing from the life model would have been an important part of his academic training two decades earlier, the earliest dated oil on canvas nude that survives was executed in 1909, when he was aged 49. This suggests that when it came to tackling the nude as a subject for easel paintings, he was a relatively late starter. Instead it seems it was the clothed female figure that preoccupied him during his early Parisian period, providing a kind of buffer zone between the demure and well covered up Breton subjects of 1892-1904, and the prolific output of unclothed figures from the 1910s and 1920s.
The present painting came to light recently in France, having belonged to a Breton private collector for several decades. It has all the hallmarks of a work executed during the years 1905-08, taking as its subject a fully clad young woman with her feet stretched out on a divan draped in green. The couch features in other works by O'Conor of similar date, whilst the model's pose recalls that seen in A Quiet Read (National Gallery of Ireland). Here the model returns the painter's glance without flinching, holding her legs slightly bent as he captures the sunlight falling on her white dress with a flurry of white, green, yellow and blue brushstrokes. The bold execution extends to the whole painting, conveying a strong suggestion not only of arrested movement, but also of latent activity: she might get up at any moment, dazzled perhaps by the bright sunlight that falls directly onto her torso and legs, whilst casting deep shadows around her facial features. The fact that the top of her head has been cropped by the edge of the canvas is not inconsistent with the artist's tendency to represent his models with their faces only summarily indicated or, especially in drawings, completely blanked out.
In this work the combination of flowing, gestural brushstrokes with the use of bright red and green intermixed with white has a close parallel in the painting Girl Mending (Cartwright Hall Art Gallery) that also dates from this period. O'Conor used impressionistic works such as these to build a rapport with the model, adopting a close viewpoint so that the canvas edges seem unable to contain the figure. As he got to know the model better he would make more fully worked up compositions - in which the model again wore white or pink - that were usually destined for public exhibition, for example Repos (State Hermitage Museum) and Woman in White (Ulster Museum). To complete these works, however, the Irishman renounced the spontaneous calligraphy of the studies in favour of a dense mosaic of small touches of pigment, akin to the method advocated by his English contemporary, Walter Sickert.
Jonathan Benington
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In the event of a tied bid, the preference will be given to the bid submitted first. The second bidder will receive immediate notification of being outbid.
PLEASE BID EARLY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT.
In order to allow rival bidders the opportunity to respond to a late bid the following extensions will apply:
IF A BID IS RECEIVED WITHIN THE FINAL 45 SECONDS OF THE COUNTDOWN THE CLOCK WILL RESET TO 60 SECONDS.
At any point you can leave a maximum bid, representing the highest price you are prepared to pay for a particular lot. Bidding only advances when there is competition from a rival bidder. In that case the system bids on your behalf, only up to the maximum if required. All bids are relayed to you be email, along with notification if you have been outbid.
All maximum bids are confidential and not disclosed. The system will endeavor to purchase the lot for you for the least price. Bids are subject to buyer’s premium of 25% (incl vat), with no additional charges.
In the event of a tied bid, the preference will be given to the bid submitted first. The second bidder will receive immediate notification of being outbid.
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