Roderic O'Conor (1860-1940)
Model Seated
Oil on canvas, 55 x 46.5cm (21½ x 18¼'')
Atelier stamp verso

Provenance: Studio of the artist, sold Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 7 February 1956. Believed...

Roderic O'Conor (1860-1940)
Model Seated
Oil on canvas, 55 x 46.5cm (21½ x 18¼'')
Atelier stamp verso

Provenance: Studio of the artist, sold Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 7 February 1956. Believed to be from the collection of Barnett Shine; Private Collection

The colours and style of this work are consistent with a date of around 1915-17 when O'Conor's studies of nudes often conveyed a warmth and softness of focus that reflected his admiration for the late work of Auguste Renoir. In Model Seated the restrained palette - blue, crimson, pink, cream and yellow - and the way the background and the darker tones of the model's head and torso have been blocked in using stained pigment, have direct parallels in paintings by O'Conor such as Etude de femme (sold in these rooms, 1 October 2014, lot 96). In both works the model is positioned parallel to the picture plane, with her left shoulder and arm catching the daylight that has entered through the studio windows just out of view to the right. The subjects of both paintings also turn their heads slightly sideways, so that they gaze into the distance rather than directly at the viewer.

A drawing of a model with identically folded arms, seated in an armchair, explored a very similar pose and may have been a preparatory study for the present work (see Sotheby's, London, British Impressionist & Post-Impressionist Paintings & Drawings and Modern British Paintings, Drawings & Sculpture, 10 June 1981, lot 61). In the painting, however, the white chemise worn by the model in the drawing has been pulled down and is just visible tucked beneath her arms. The brilliant white fabric, captured in a flurry of brushstrokes, contrasts with the young woman's tanned forearms.

O'Conor's concentration on indoors subjects - still lifes and female models - during these years can be explained at least in part by his decision to remain in Paris during the First World War. The cafés of Montparnasse and Montmartre that had been full of artists were now practically deserted, a ban against liquor was imposed, and models left the city in droves because there was no work. O'Conor, however, seems to have maintained a solid work ethic and, in so doing, was not only able to continue his explorations of the female form, but also to lend some material support to the modelling community. Indeed it was by these means that he came to meet Henriette (Renée) Honta, who learned to paint under his guidance and would later become his wife.

Jonathan Benington

 

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