William Conor RHA RUA (1884-1968) The Slighted Child Oil on canvas, 75 x 62.5cm (29½ x 24½'') Signed Provenance: The artists studio, which was above the the Bell Gallery where this work was...

William Conor RHA RUA (1884-1968) The Slighted Child Oil on canvas, 75 x 62.5cm (29½ x 24½'') Signed Provenance: The artists studio, which was above the the Bell Gallery where this work was purchased by the current owners circa 1968 In 1925, Holbrook Jackson wrote 'In the first place William Conor is a painter of genius, and in the second place he is a painter of Belfast. There are notes in his work that suggest he could not have painted anywhere else, and this despite the fact that he had looked upon the French impressionists with affection and understanding.' John Hewitt has also observed, 'The inhabitants of Conor's little streets belong to the old economy before the Welfare State, to Belfast of the Twenties.' In 1923, Conor wrote that he had for some time carried a sketchbook in his pocket, 'to note down any little happening which strike[s] me as interesting and significant. With my sketching block held under cover of a newspaper, I have been able to garner many happy impressions, which I have afterwards worked up into drawings and paintings.' 'The Slighted Child' suggests a painting that has been worked from an earlier sketch, when the artist would have observed the boy, standing forlorn and dejected following an upbraiding by the woman (his mother perhaps) standing in a doorway further up the street, at the top left of the painting. Most likely, the boy with his open mouth and darkly rendered downcast eyes, has been crying due to his perceived injustice of adults - that heartfelt emotion particular to childhood. The painting has been pared down to its essential elements which is typical of Conor. The focus is firmly on the child in his orange jacket, the sun hitting the top of his head and the side of his face. The muted palette and treatment of the terraced facade suggest a recollection on the part of Conor and an attendant sense of nostalgia. The city of Belfast is indicated through the backdrop of houses and the streetscape environment suggests that houses opposite could witness the slighted child, a further injustice, when clearly the child has fled outside in search of solitude to regain composure. It is a powerful rendition of a familiar feeling recollected from childhood. In 1926 Conor went to Philadelphia is the USA and stayed there for nine months. According to Theo Snoddy, at that time the artist showed at the Babcock Galleries, New York where an attractive child-study by Conor, saw the artist inundated with requests from parents who wanted their children drawn or painted. Marianne O'Kane Boal

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