Roderic O'Conor 1860-1940

Roderic O’Conor’s fascination with the female nude began in earnest after he left Brittany for good in 1904 and moved to Paris. The spacious studio he rented at 102 rue du Cherche-midi in Montparnasse became the setting for countless explorations of this time-honoured subject. The present example, with its sumptuous reds, pinks, oranges and yellows, recreates something of the effect of a boudoir, the model being captured as if she is just about to rise from her couch in order to get dressed.

The picture’s intimate setting and unselfconscious pose relate it closely to other interiors dating from O’Conor’s intimiste period, 1905-11. Inspiration for this body of work was provided by the late nudes of Renoir, as well as Pierre Bonnard’s radiant and seemingly unposed depictions of his wife. O’Conor sought, like Bonnard, to create unpretentious pictures of women in intimate settings, engaged in everyday activities such as reading, resting, arranging their hair or fastening a stocking. An early example of 1905 entitled Repos, showing a clothed model asleep, was bought from O’Conor by the famous Russian collector of modern European art, Ivan Morosov, and is now in the State Hermitage Museum.

In Nude seated on a chaise longue O’Conor has posed his model left of centre, seated on the edge of a divan (a favourite studio prop), with three Chinese vases included in the background to lend an air of cultured refinement. The model’s expression, as so often in the artist’s work, is contemplative and introspective, rather than overtly glamorous or sensual. The figure is lit by daylight entering the picture from the right, throwing the left side of her figure into shadow and thereby enhancing the illusion of rounded, three-dimensional  forms. By paying careful attention to the overall balance of light and shade, or chiaroscuro, O’Conor demonstrates his awareness of traditional themes and approaches, simultaneously updating them through his highly expressive use of colour. The luscious crimson red he has used so extensively in this painting was one of his favourite colours, inevitably calling Renoir to mind once again.

Whereas the seated nude on the front of this picture is a highly considered statement that must have demanded frequent sittings of the model over a period of weeks (if not months), the reclining nude on the reverse is a spontaneous and vibrant sketch, painted in one sitting. The two contrasting treatments show the extent to which O’Conor was prepared to adapt his approach, working rapidly alla prima in order to seize a pose or light effect before it was lost for ever, while at the same time producing pictures with a much higher degree of ‘finish’, perhaps with an exhibition in mind. Even in more developed works, however, the artist still liked to retain a degree of spontaneity: compare for example the bold patch of creamy paint on the seated nude’s left shoulder, with the incredibly delicate, feathered brushstrokes used in her right cheek and neck.

Jonathan Benington