The National Gallery of Ireland opens a major show on Irish artist Roderic O'Conor

The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Sunday, June 16, 2024


The National Gallery of Ireland opens a major show on Irish artist Roderic O'Conor
Roderic O'Conor (1860-1940), Le Cap Canail, Cassis OIL: 73 x 92. Private Collection. Photographer: Roy Hewson.



DUBLIN.- The National Gallery of Ireland is presenting a major show on Irish artist Roderic O’Conor (1860- 1940), from 18 July – 28 October 2018. This is the first exhibition in over 30 years to explore O’Conor’s works across all media.

Roderic O’Conor & the Moderns: Between Paris and Pont-Aven assembles many of the most important paintings, drawings and etchings from his critical years in Paris and Brittany (1886- 1904), when he was a leading member of the Pont-Aven school of artists, and places him at the heart of the late 19th-century avant garde. The exhibition also includes seminal works by his illustrious contemporaries in Pont-Aven, including Paul Gauguin, Émile Bernard and Maurice Denis, and casts new light on O’Conor’s connections with Gauguin and Van Gogh.

Roderic O’Conor was born in Co. Roscommon, but moved to France, working between Paris and rural art colonies such as Grez and Pont-Aven. His cutting edge Post-Impressionist style in the early 1890s was unmatched by any of his English-speaking contemporaries. The exhibition curators have selected some of his very best works from the 1890s - many not previously seen in public – drawn from public and private collections including Tate, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena. The exhibition celebrates O'Conor as an artist of international standing, operating on a European stage. The strength of his artistic connections is demonstrated for the first time by placing his work in context, alongside that of Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Émile Bernard, Maurice Denis, Paul Sérusier, and Armand Seguin.

The exhibition of over 60 major works offers a colourful array of French scenes charting the work of O’Conor and his contemporaries. It features Van Gogh’s Champ de blé aux bleuet (Wheatfield with Cornflowers), 1890, on loan from the Fondation Beyeler, Basel; Roderic O’Conor’s Field of Corn, Pont-Aven, 1892; and Paul Gauguin’s Bowl of Fruit and Tankard before a Window, c.1890, on loan from The National Gallery, London for the first time. It also includes significant works by the gifted Swiss artist Cuno Amiet, who worked alongside and was influenced by O’Conor.

Roderic O’Conor & the Moderns: Between Paris and Pont-Aven is arranged by theme: 1880s, New Discoveries and their Impact; 1890-3, Landscapes by O’Conor, Amiet and Van Gogh; 1893, Breton Peasants and Still Lifes by O’Conor and Amiet; 1894-1899, O’Conor and Gauguin; and 1900 and after, The Legacy of Pont-Aven. The artworks represent a period when O’Conor had already absorbed Impressionism and Pointillism and was seeking new challenges, leading to direct contact with Paul Gauguin and Theo van Gogh, art dealer and brother of Vincent.

O’Conor was among those who appreciated Van Gogh’s talent long before the Dutch artist gained mainstream recognition. New research by exhibition co-curator Jonathan Benington reveals O’Conor’s privileged early access to Van Gogh’s oeuvre at the Parisian flat of his brother Theo in 1890. Vincent died in July of that year, and only two months later, O’Conor attended a memorial exhibition, seeing Van Gogh’s work in quantity for the first time. Responding to Van Gogh’s exaggerated colours and expressive brushwork, O’Conor adapted his style to suit his own vision, painting alternating stripes of pure colour, intended to mix optically, like the dots of the pointillists. Over the next two years O’Conor experimented with ‘the stripe’ and adopted it across all media, including ink drawings and etchings.

Included in the exhibition is Pierre Girieud's painting Homage to Gauguin, 1906, which features O’Conor as one of Gauguin’s ten most dedicated followers. During Gauguin’s last season in Brittany, he and O’Conor became friends. In May 1894, the pair were involved in a brawl with sailors in Concarneau, in which Gauguin broke his ankle. When Gauguin recovered, O’Conor allowed him to use a studio at the manor of Lezaven, and Gauguin based part of a picture on one of O’Conor’s drawings. Gauguin presented O’Conor with affectionately inscribed prints, and invited him to travel with him to the South Seas. O’Conor declined. O’Conor later began to use paint more fluidly, deploying warm colours reminiscent of Gauguin’s Tahitian landscapes.

The exhibition highlights O'Conor as a champion of the modern, passing on his innovations to artists with whom he collaborated. When young Swiss painter Cuno Amiet joined the Pont-Aven artist’s colony in May 1892 he was so impressed by O’Conor’s work that he began using stripes in his own paintings. Working together they created a remarkable body of work. Cuno Amiet returned to Switzerland in 1893, but evidence of this influence of O’Conor’s work remained discernible in his paintings beyond the turn of the century. In 1906, Amiet joined the German Expressionist group, Die Brücke.

O'Conor developed a distinctly personal style with a bold and expressive treatment of line and colour. With his practice of painting in expressive parallel lines (‘stripes’) from 1892, he adapted a feature of Van Gogh’s late landscapes. The exhibition Roderic O’Conor & the Moderns: Between Paris and Pont-Aven presents an invaluable opportunity to examine the evolution of O’Conor’s style, side-by-side with the artists with whom he connected and collaborated, including Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Armand Seguin, Émile Bernard, Maurice Denis, Paul Sérusier, and particularly Cuno Amiet.

The exhibition is curated by Jonathan Benington, Manager, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath and Brendan Rooney, Head Curator, National Gallery of Ireland. A fully illustrated catalogue will accompany the exhibition.










Today's News

July 28, 2018

Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibits a spectacular ornamented ancient Egyptian coffin

The National Gallery of Ireland opens a major show on Irish artist Roderic O'Conor

India excavators find over one thousand 18th-century war rockets

Sir Charles Saumarez Smith announced as Senior Director of Blain/Southern

Hyperobjects: Ballroom Marfa presents a group exhibition

China 'waterfall' skyscraper hit by torrent of ridicule

Newly expanded Design Gallery opens in IMA Galleries at Newfields

Third solo show of work by Joshua Lutz on view at ClampArt in New York

Phillips announces touring exhibition of works by Raoul Dufy from a French private collection

Bolivian water frog in lovelorn race against clock

Exhibition highlights postcards as both valuable historical documents and masterworks of graphic design

Longest established gallery venue in L.A. Jack Rutberg Fine Arts to vacate its La Brea Avenue gallery location

Kunsthalle Mannheim launches its digital strategy with the opening of the Creative Lab

Lessons in loyalty at North Korea's top school

The Authentication Company, LLC marks, identifies petroliana, automobilia

Stick it like Gianni: Italian scores with football album collection

A $5 million nickel and paper money collection highlight Stack's Bowers Galleries auction

The Gathering 'Shahrazad' card sets $72,000 record in Heritage Auctions sale

Iraq street satirists peddle culture change

Chris Klapper and Patrick Gallagher present a new installation at ODETTA

Goodwin Fine Art exhibits recent work by photographers Danae Falliers and Brenda Biondo

Kunsthalle Bremen exhibits works by ten young and promising positions in contemporary art

Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates to offer Wentz Collection

Drawing reimagines history in the Dobell Australian Drawing Biennial 2018




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful