Description

Jerome Connor (1874-1943), The Pikeman (1940), Bronze, 83 cm high (32.7 ), Signed, Provenance: Purchased directly from the artist by the current owners Father c.1940 and thence by descent. Exhibited: 1942 RHA Annual Exhibition Cat. No. 310 where lent by current owners Father, 1943 IELA 1st Exhibition  Jerome Connor Memorial Section Cat. No. 10, 1977 Wexford Arts Centre  Irish Art from Private Collections 1870 - 1930 Cat. No. 2 1988 Annascaul  Jerome Connor Exhibition , 1991 Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery,Dublin  Irish Art and Moderism , Cat. No.128 - this exhibition then toured to The Ulster Museum in Belfast. 1993 The National Gallery of Ireland  Jerome Connor Retrospective Cat. No. 22, Literature:  Jerome Connor I  The Capuchin Annual 1963 by Mairin Allen p347 - 68 illustrated p351,  Irish Art and Modernism by Dr SB Kennedy 1991, illustrated p340,  Jerome Connor - Irish American Sculptor by Giollamuire O Murchu National Gallery Ireland 1993, illustrated p73, Jerome Connor was born near Annascaul in Co. Kerry but in 1874 when Connor was only thirteen the family emigrated to Massachussetts,U.S.A.. Shortly after their arrival his father died and Connor had to leave home to seek work. He moved through various jobs including being a prize fighter before being trained as a bronze founder and he assisted Roland Hinton Perry in casting of "The Fountain of Neptune" bronzes for the Library of Congress. He worked for a period with the Roycroft Institution and when his friend and patron Elbert Hubbard its founder died on the Lusitania he was commissioned to do a full sized statue of him. His Irish-American connections brought him the Robert Emmett commission and later the Lusitania Memorial commission which were to see him return to Ireland in 1925. Various other commissions in Ireland were to follow as well as a remarkable series of small bronzes which he described as 'little pieces of free work" more loosely handled than his earlier work. They are of particular importance as they are the product of talent which first introduced the process of casting,chasing and patinating of bronze to Ireland. "The Pikeman" is Connor's second design for the unrealized 1798 Memorial "Pikeman" intended for Denny Street , Tralee,Co Kerry where it was to replace a stone figure destroyed by the British Forces during the Irish War of Independence. The contrast between this design and the earlier one of 1928 - 31 illustrates Connor's move from formal clarity and academic pose to a more expressive approach achieved through rugged modelling, simplicity of pose and defiant expression. Judith Hill has written :  In 1938 the Tralee Pikeman committee took Connor to court for failure to complete the work and Connor was obliged to complete  The Pikeman without further payment. His next  Pikeman (The one here),freely modeled is quite different to the first. The surface of the clay is rough,expressive,the essence of vigour - the figure is alert,detached,slender. Connor seemed intent to project an image whose essential liveliness was not dissipated by a detailed attention to accurate surface detail. (Judith Hill  Irish Public Sculpture ). It was never realised in Tralee as the committee abandoned Connor in favour of Albert Power whose limestone piece was unveiled by Maud Gonne in June 1939 which means this piece is likely to date to 1938 around the time of the court case. We acknowledge Christina Kennedy's private research and Judith Hill s writings which formed the basis of this catalogue entry.