Roderic O'Conor 1860-1940

Given by the artist to his friend Francis-Brook Chadwick at Grez-sur-Loing, and thence by descent to his grand-daughter, Madame Corinne Colomb, from whom purchased by the present owner, November 1983

Pont-Aven, Musée de Pont-Aven,  Roderic O’Conor 1860-1940, 1984, no.3. illustrated in the catalogue;
London, Barbican Art Gallery, Roderic O'Conor, 1860-1940, 12 September - 3 November 1985, with tour to Belfast, Dublin and Manchester, 1985, no. 4, illustrated in the catalogue;
Dublin, Hugh Lane Gallery, Frank O’Meara and his Contemporaries, 1989, no. 23, illustrated in the catalogue;
Limerick, The Hunt Museum, Roderic O'Conor, Shades of a Master, 2003, no.2, as Landscape under Snow.

Jonathan Benington, ‘From Realism to Expressionism, the Early Career of Roderic O'Conor’, Apollo, April 1985, pp.253-261, illustrated p.255.

This refined snow covered landscape was painted within a few years of Roderic O'Conor's move to France in 1886, after he had left his native Ireland in search of a more challenging artistic environment than that of late nineteenth century Dublin.  The new Impressionist tendency in French painting, enthusiastically led by Monet, Sisley, Pissarro, and Renoir, together with an appreciation of the richness of the city's cultural heritage, had taken Paris to a position where it was unchallenged as the art centre of the world.  Numerous young artists, from almost every country in the world, made their way to Paris to advance their careers and immerse themselves in all that the city had to offer (see also note to lot 53). 

The comparative flatness of the landscape depicted in Paysage de Neige is typical of the rural environment around Grez-sur-Loing, a small village on the banks of the river Loing which was easily accessible from Paris.  Artists who wanted to paint there could take the train down from Paris to nearby Montigny and and enjoy a pleasant walk along the river bank to Grez where they found comfortable lodgings at the Hotel Chevillion.  O'Conor painted there shortly after he arrived in France and he returned to the village in subsequent years when he was making visits to Paris from his base in Brittany between 1891 and 1903.   An international  colony of American, Scandinavian and English artists had been established at Grez, and O'Conor and an American artist from Boston, Francis Chadwick, developed a life-long friendship there.  Chadwick acquired this landscape painting from O'Conor, either through purchase or as a gift, and the picture remained in Grez with the family after Chadwick's death in 1943 until it was acquired by the present owner in 1983.

In this refined and accomplished painting O'Conor reveals the extent to which  he had adopted the techniques used by the French Impressionists.   He would probably have seen their paintings in one or more of the Paris galleries which specialised in their work.  Their influence is particularly evident in the way in which he has interpreted details in the group of trees which are central to the composition, their dark forms adding a sense of mystery to the work.   There are dark umbers, painted and repainted, and a tinted purple has been worked in to these with an active and searching brush using multi directional paint strokes, dabbing and jabbing with the brush but always with control.  The work has been achieved using a limited colour range in keeping with the winter season and through its closely related values, that is apart from the dark trees, this particular painting of O'Conor's comes closest to what became known as the Grez school of tonal painting.

Throughout the painting we are reminded of O'Conor's innate ability to suggest the forms of nature through the most economical means.  His painting of the tree trunks and their branches suggests some knowledge of Monet’s treatment of shrubbery in his 1879 Vetheuil paintings, especially the landscapes under snow which he painted there. While the trees were probably painted directly and quickly from observation, the more heavily worked foreground is likely to have been resolved in O'Conor's studio.  The boldness with which he has used the palette knife to create an interesting visual texture throughout the snow covered field, suggests that he may also have drawn some inspiration from Courbet's paintings and his palette knife techniques.

O'Conor did exhibit a winter landscape with the title La mare Gelée (The Frozen Pond) in the Salon des Indépendants of 1890, an exhibition in which he was represented by ten works, coincidentally the same number as van Gogh showed.   As this title has little association with the landscape elements in Paysage de Neige there is almost certainly no relationship between the two pictures other than the fact that both were winter landscapes.   There is however an O'Conor etching titled, Arbres avec soleil couchant (Trees with setting sun), in which the trees which are its subject matter are close in appearance to those in Paysage de Neige, suggesting that the etching may have been made in the same location.