Roderic O'Conor

Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Vente O'Conor, 6 February 1956;
Roland, Browse & Delbanco, London where purchased by the previous owner and thence by descent

Probably Paris, Paris, Salon d'Automne, 1909, no.1320, as La Fenêtre

Original canvas. Some very minor wear to very lower edge of canvas. Overall it appears in very good overall condition, clean and ready to hang. Ultraviolet light reveals the signature in the lower right corner. Please contact department if you would like to see an image. UV light also reveals some retouchings to the window upper right; in the picture centre of background and to the book the model is reading. Minor fleck to her nose. Held in a gilt and cream coloured composite frame.
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This newly rediscovered work by O'Conor has only had two owners since it left the artist's studio. The painting was exhibited in Paris during the artist's lifetime and is still known by the title he gave it.

The fair features and slim figure of the young woman in La fenêtre, presented in profile view, set this composition apart from the deshabillé Parisian models one normally encounters in O'Conor's figurative work from this period. Indeed, despite its title, the painting is much more of a portrait and invites speculation as to who the model might have been. A clue may be provided by a letter O'Conor wrote in October 1909 to Clive Bell: 'I have had a girl posing for me who has worked a good deal for [Augustus] John so have been hearing of him.' (OCCB10, National Gallery of Ireland Archive, Dublin). Given that John had made his home in Paris during the years 1905-07, the model to whom O'Conor refers must have posed for John during that timeframe.

The most likely candidate is Euphemia Lamb, née Nina Forrest, a professional model who married the artist Henry Lamb in 1906 and was described by Ida John as 'a beauty of 17 with grey-corn-coloured hair' (Rebecca John and Michael Holroyd (ed.), The Good Bohemian The Letters of Ida John, Bloomsbury 2017, p. 292). After Euphemia and her husband visited John and his family in Paris in March 1907, she quickly became one of his favourite subjects. On other occasions she posed for Ambrose McEvoy, Jacob Epstein and J. D. Innes, besides becoming the mistress of the occultist Aleister Crowley, an habitué of the Chat Blanc restaurant also patronised by O'Conor.

The fact that Euphemia continued to visit Paris after 1907 and that she could adopt any pose asked of her, suggests that she could easily have come within the orbit of a Montparnasse-based painter seeking a reliable model. The carefully delineated facial features and the hair neatly gathered in a bun just above her neck suggest a degree of respect on the part of the artist for her modelling prowess, whilst the loose-fitting dress with its voluminous sleeves is typical of the bohemian attire Euphemia favoured.

O'Conor has created a cultured ambience for his young subject, with a framed picture from his private collection hanging in the background and an open book placed on the table in front of her. Light streams in from the window, striking the model's face and hand as well as the still life objects on the table. This corner of the artist's studio at 102 rue du Cherche-midi was a spot he used regularly for still lifes and figurative subjects, attracted by the propensity of the light to almost sculpt the forms it fell upon, yielding a full gamut of tones alongside vividly registered colours. In works such as the present one O'Conor negotiated a carefully considered path between tradition and innovation, combining sound composition and draughtsmanship with fluid brushwork, evidenced here most brilliantly in the dozen or so broad strokes of paint representing the brighter parts of the model's dress.

We are grateful to Jonathan Benington for kindly preparing this catalogue entry.