Roderic O'Conor (1860-1940)
Femme Lisant or 'Woman Reading' (c.1907/8)
Oil on canvas, 54.6 x 45.7cm (21½ x 17¾")
Stamped verso with atelier stamp

Provenance: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Vente...

Roderic O'Conor (1860-1940)
Femme Lisant or 'Woman Reading' (c.1907/8)
Oil on canvas, 54.6 x 45.7cm (21½ x 17¾")
Stamped verso with atelier stamp

Provenance: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Vente O'Conor, 07.02.1956; Browse and Darby, London 1982; Sotheby's, London, 19.05.1982, No.73; Private Collection.

Exhibited: Browse and Darby, 'French Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture 19th & 20th Century', London 1982, Catalogue No.19; Browse and Darby, Roderic OConor 1860-1940, London 1994.

Literature: Jonathan Benington, Roderic O'Conor, Irish Academic Press 1992, Catalogue No.120, p.204; Patrick J. Murphy, 'A Passion for Collecting: A Memoir', 2012, illustrated in colour.

 

This painting by Roderic OConor, circa 1907-08, with its remarkably simple compositional format, perfectly captures that mood of concentration associated with the private activity of reading. It was painted by OConor in his rue du Cherche-Midi studio in Paris, in the popular artist quartier of Montparnasse on the left bank of the river Seine. He lived there for many years after his association with Paul Gauguins group of artists in Brittany, a province in northwest France. The young woman who is the subject of this painting is most likely to be Renée Honta, who was initially OConors model in Paris, subsequently his mistress, and the woman he eventually married in 1933.

 

OConor chose to place his subject on a wooden chair with her back to the large studio windows so that the incident light entering the dark interior emphasized the coiffed style into which her red hair has been lifted and pinned. The same light source also establishes a rich tonal contrast between her white chemise and the dark background beyond the figure. The vigorous brush strokes defining the forms are typical of OConors studio paintings in his post-Brittany years. The light which falls on her right forearm is also cleverly used in the composition to direct our vision to the book she is reading, and from there back to the models face.

 

This work is reminiscent of OConors painting, Girl Mending, in the collection of the Art Galleries and Museums, Bradford, England.

 

 

Dr. Roy Johnston, September 2019

 

 

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