Roderic O'Conor 1860-1940

Crane Kalman Gallery, London, February 1962;
Richard Attenborough Esq.;
Crane Kalman Gallery, London, September 1970;
Barnett Shine;
Browse and Darby, London 1982;
Private Collection

Jonathan Benington, Roderic O'Conor, a Biography with Catalogue of his Work, Dublin 1992, no.122, illustrated p.115.

Executed circa 1915, this boldly drawn study of a nude model asleep on a chaise longue in O’Conor’s studio shows his ability as a draughtsman and is revealing of his working methods in the early stages of a painting.  The figure has been confidently drawn in with a light blue turpentine wash.  O'Conor  has already begun to establish value relationships and his judicious distribution of lights and darks has achieved an early sense of volume in the form, adding  conviction to the figure.  Although the features of this young woman have only been lightly sketched in, there is a definite resemblance to his model at the time, Renée Honta, whom O’Conor drew and painted on numerous occasions.  She remained his constant companion and they eventually married in Paris in 1933.

We can only speculate on why he did not take this painting further and why he chose to leave it at the level of a sketch.  Was it perhaps a preparatory work for a painting he had in mind, might he have been interrupted by a visitor to his studio, or was he quite simply at the end of a longer painting session and motivated to record this pose as a lively sketch?  The fact that he chose to work on cardboard, rather than on canvas, would suggest the latter.

Roy Johnston, Ph.D.