DUBLIN, IRELAND.- Each year the Irish Sale at Sotheby’s in London sets world record prices for Irish artists and the 2002 sale promises to build on this success. It will take place on Thursday, May 16 and is highlighted with works by Sir William Orpen, R.A., R.U.A. (1878-1931). The sale includes a major painting by the artist, entitled Interior at Clonsilla with Mrs St.George and a rare and previously unpublished archive of letters written by Orpen to Evelyn St. George between 1907 and 1912. The two had been lovers since 1908, having met in 1906, the year after she had moved to Clonsilla Lodge in Phoenix Park, Dublin, as relief from rural life in Connemara. Evelyn, undoubtedly the most important person in Orpen’s life, became both his muse and patron transforming his artistic and personal life in a way no one else could. The couple exchanged many letters, 45 of which are included in the sale.
The unique collection of illustrated letters provides a fascinating insight into the period spanning their first meeting, their developing relationship and subsequent great passion and mutual dependence. Given by a member of the St. George family to a friend, the letters have passed by descent to the present owners and are estimated to fetch in excess of £150,000.
This major archive illustrates all aspects of their relationship, from light-hearted banter to genuine mutual concerns over one another’s physical well-being, the demands of professional competition, the activities of the St. George children and the pain of being apart. The letters chart Orpen’s movements around London and Ireland, including those written from his studios in South Kensington and Evelyn’s homes in Dublin and Galway.
Interestingly, two letters in the collection make direct reference to the bed depicted in Interior at Clonsilla with Mrs St. George. In one example, Orpen draws himself as a floating spirit above the bed and Alci (probably Alcibiadies St. George, Evelyn’s son) with his arms out-stretched towards him. The surreal nature of the drawing and marked references to wineglasses and a bottle, suggest the artist is himself suffering from the effects of alcohol and a possible admission to his growing dependence on it. Orpen writes:
“My Dear Mrs St. George, after all I am again this Sunday drawing in your room – not very well I admit – but I’m there right enough - much to the surprise of Master alci”. The letter is estimated at £15,000-20,000.
The other, an incomplete pen and pencil study of a four poster bed with a chandelier above on Clonsilla-headed note paper, shows Alci peering over the end board of the bed at a figure propped up on cushions. It is estimated at £8,000-12,000.
Writing from London on March 17, 1909, Orpen relays how hard he has been working for the last two months, and that he is ready for a change in surroundings, clearly waiting for an invitation to Clonsilla. The wonderfully evocative letter is estimated to fetch 15,000-20,000.
Humour plays an important part in Orpen’s letters and is never far away. In a three-page letter to Mrs St. George, he pours out his heart because she has left him and gone on holiday. He illustrates the letter with large-scale drawings revealing the depth of his despair at being left alone. It is estimated at £10,000-15,000.
As their love affair progressed, and as something of a pretext for their extended holidays together, Mrs St. George commissioned an annual portrait of her daughter, Gardenia, allowing Orpen to visit them each year to work on the painting. Interestingly, last year at Sotheby’s a portrait of Gardenia St. George with a Riding-Crop by Orpen made £1,983,500, a world record for any Irish painting. Among the archive letters, a sketch of the 1909 portrait of Gardenia, inscribed “Wishing you a Very Happy Christmas Poppy, from Woppy”, is estimated at £12,000-15,000.
A curious trait that appears in a number of letters is Orpen’s acute awareness of the height difference between him and Evelyn, suggestive of her control and dominance over him. Elegant and slender, Evelyn towers above her diminutive lover almost half her size, in a cartoon that sees them portrayed as ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. Looking up at Evelyn, Orpen’s gaze is transfixed and worshipful. She appears almost to completely overwhelm him. Overleaf, Orpen amusingly writes: “I know the hair is on the wrong side in the drawing / forgive it.” The letter is estimated at £8,000-12,000.
Despite the affection evident in their letters, at the time of painting in 1908, and before the affair became public with Evelyn’s move to London in 1912, the relationship was wreathed in discretion. It is evident from Interior at Clonsilla that a palpable but unexpressed spark existed between artist and sitter. However, as much as Evelyn entertained Orpen, and he likewise provided her with a companionship that would sustain her for more than a decade, she remained wedded to husband and position.
Interior at Clonsilla with Mrs St.George shows the artist’s lover reclining on her bed at Clonsilla Lodge and is estimated to fetch £800,000-1,200,000. The walls are hung with Orpen’s work and behind her is her four-poster bed decorated by Angelica Kaufmann, and it was here in her bedroom that Mrs St. George was accustomed to hold court.
Mrs St. George’s fifth and last child, Vivien, recalls in A Mirror for Mama [London, 1965]: “Some people applauded my mother’s sublime disregard for the stuffier conventions, but many more frowned on such practices as entertaining all but her most casual acquaintances - or those she simply didn’t like - in her bedroom. I think this was unreasonable of them, for Mama’s were not like ordinary bedrooms at all. By dint of tearing down a wall here, raising a ceiling there, she ensured that they eventually became the largest and grandest rooms in any house she occupied, and it was here that my mother hung her favourite pictures.”
Further paintings by Orpen include The Hungarians of 1910, showing a gypsy couple and their performing bear, whom the painter had met the previous year when they came to Dublin to perform. He posed the threesome against the serene backdrop of Dublin Bay and the Hill of Howth, almost as if they were 18th century aristocrats on the Grand Tour. It is estimated at £400,000-600,000.
From the same series of en plein air canvasses, is Orpen’s portrait of his seven-year-old daughter, Christine affectionately known as Kit. Conceived and executed in circa 1913 while on holiday with his family at Howth Head in Co. Dublin, the painting is estimated at £250,000-350,000.
Two important works by Louis le Brocquy, H.R.A. (b. 1916) are included in the sale. Le Brocquy is one of the select group of Irish artists to have sold works over £1 million - Travelling Woman with Newspaper sold at Sotheby’s for £1.15 million in May 2000. Travelling People, the earliest work from the same famous ‘tinker’ series, is offered in this year’s sale and estimated at £150,000-200,000. Another work by le Brocquy encapsulates the artist’s long struggle with his Irish identity. Image of Samuel Beckett is one of a long series of portraits of Irish cultural and historical figures, which he began in 1964. It is estimated at £70,000-100,000.
Other artists represented in the sale include Charles Lamb, R.H.A., R.U.A. (1893-1964), Walter Frederick Osborne, R.H.A. (1859-1903), James Humbert Craig, R.H.A., R.U.A. (1874-1944) and Gerard Dillon, R.H.A., R.U.A. (1916-71).
Two major works by Jack B. Yeats are included in this sale. Both are drawn from a small group within his oeuvre that make reference to the political scenes that have formed 20th century Ireland. Going to Wolfe Towne’s Grave shows travellers embarking on the patriotic pilgrimage that endures to this day, and A Republican Bazaar depicts festivities aimed at supporting the dependents of the Irish Volunteers. The sale further includes important works by Sir John Lavery and Roderic O’Conor and the private collection of the late Derek Hill (see separate release). This year, a sale of Irish Belleek porcelain, Glass and Silver will take place at Sotheby’s Olympia on the morning of May 16.
