

The technique of cropping the bottom of a vase holding flowers was employed by Cézanne in some of his still lifes (see for example the latter's Vase of Flowers in the Norton Simon Museum). O'Conor adopts it here in order to lend greater emphasis to the pink and red blooms arranged in a jug. Indeed the flower stems are confronted virtually at eye level and against a dark, indeterminate background that seems to push them upwards and outwards, as witness the uppermost blossom that is cropped by the picture edge. The jug is a piece of Quimper faïence decorated with a simple garland of leaves, indicating that O'Conor continued to use Breton objects in his still lifes two decades after leaving the province.
The inscription on the reverse of the wooden support is identical to that found on an O'Conor flowerpiece in the collection of the Ulster Museum. The artist evidently offered these two works for sale, having decided to donate any proceeds to an establishment set up to care for the orphaned children of artists. The dedication shows that the elderly O'Conor retained a sympathy for those who faced hardship and loss in their lives.
Jonathan Benington