William Conor RHA RUA ROI (1881-1968)
Lambeg Drummers
Oil on board, 76 x 62cm (29 x 24½'')
Signed

William Conor was born in Belfast in 1881 into a working-class family. His father was a...

William Conor RHA RUA ROI (1881-1968)
Lambeg Drummers
Oil on board, 76 x 62cm (29 x 24½'')
Signed

William Conor was born in Belfast in 1881 into a working-class family. His father was a wrought iron worker and, thus, he was brought up in close confines with the industrial heart of the city. However, unlike many boys who followed in their father's footsteps, Conor's life segued onto a different route.

At the age of ten, Conor's talent for sketching was recognised by the music teacher in his school, Louis Mantell. Mantell arranged for him to take art classes and, once older, Conor went on to attend the Government School of Design, graduating to work as a commercial artist.

 

With the onset of WWI, Conor was commissioned as a war artist, recording the soldiers and munitions workers stationed around Belfast. This pushed him to further his career and he moved to London in 1920, where he stayed for several years. From here, he continued to exhibit in Ireland so that, by the end of his career, he had shown nearly two hundred works at the RHA over a span of forty-nine years.

 

Despite his success in England, Conor was repeatedly drawn to his Irish subject matter. He painted the city that he knew since birth and the people that inhabited it. His canvases celebrated a version of what it was to be Northern Irish, the brush and crayon often disguising any indications of hardship.

 

In 'Lambeg Drummers', Conor portrays a true symbol of the North - the Lambeg drum. Originally used as a device with which to scare the enemy during battle, the Lambeg drum is one of the loudest acoustic instruments in the world. The deafening beats are now often associated with July 12th and the annual Orange parades, however they were once just as popular within Catholic culture as they are with Protestant. Particular to each area, the various rhythms of the drum play like different dialects and a skilled listener could pinpoint where a player was from. Traditionally, the drums acted a symbol of unity, bringing musicians and audiences together, an army or a community standing strong. Such solidarity fit seamlessly with Conor's optimistic depictions of his home.

 

Helena Carlyle, 2020

View more View less