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William Conor RHA RUA ROI1881 - 1968

Categories: Sketches, Portrait, Genre-Paintings

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Hammer Price: €97,000.00

Biography

William Conor was born in Belfast and studied graphic design at the Government School of Design and was then apprenticed to a poster designer. He exhibited at the RHA for the first time in 1918 and continued to do so until the year before his death. During both World Wars Conor was commissioned by the British Government to produce records of soldiers in the form of sketches, some of which were included in an exhibition of war artists at the National Gallery of London in 1941. He spent a number

of years in London in the 1920s where he met Sir John Lavery and Augustus John, and in 1926 travelled to America to undertake various portrait commissions. Conor was the first Irishman to become a member of the Royal Institute of oil painters. He was a founder member of Ulster Academy (later the RUA) and was president from 1957 to 1964. He was elected RHA in 1947 and awarded the OBE in 1952. His works can be found in major collections including the Ulster Museum, Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, Crawford Municipal Gallery, Imperial War Museum in London, The Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Brooklyn Museum in New York. William Conor featured in 'Ulster Artists Exhibition' (2010). Please click here to view the catalogue. Conor also featured in: 'A Celebration of Irish Art and Modernism' (2011). Please click here to view the catalogue. 'Ireland: Her People and Landscape' (2012). Please click here to view the catalogue.