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Description: Roderic O'Conor, R.H.A.
1860-1940
la fenetre
signed, stamped with estate stamp, inscribed with title and No.4 on reverse
oil on canvas laid down on board
57 by 39.5 cm., 22 1/2 by 15 1/2 in.
La Fenetre is a seminal work of Roderic O'Conor's intimiste period, which began shortly after the artist's permanent return from Brittany to Paris in 1904, and continued until 1911. The picture was painted in one corner of his Montparnasse studio-cum-apartment at 102 Rue du Cherche-Midi. One wall of the first floor room was lined with a series of tall windows, and he quickly learnt to exploit the varied lighting opportunities afforded by this feature. Often he placed his models within the body of the space, perhaps introducing a note of ambiguity by positioning a mirror behind the figure to create a double image. Noted examples of this approach are A Quiet Read and Reclining Nude before a Mirror (both coll. National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin) in which he employed an understated method reliant on thin stains and flecks of paint - consistent with the intimiste works of Bonnard and Vuillard - suggesting form rather than seeking to define it.
Alternatively, O'Conor would sometimes choose to backlight the model by seating her near a window, viewing her contrejour so as to eliminate any distracting details and create a hint of mystery. This is the approach he has adopted in La Fenetre, and by titling the work 'The Window' he has further underlined the importance of complete unity between the young woman and the space she is occupying. The intimate mood has been enhanced by the candid nature of the artist's viewpoint, showing the model abstracted, pensively brushing her long hair and totally oblivious to the gaze of the viewer. Behind and above her the artist has hung a painted or bas relief depiction of a seated woman wearing a long dress, an item from O'Conor's private collection perhaps, and one that makes a deliberate play on different levels of reality. La Fenetre is reality at second hand, filtered through the artist's sensibility, so the picture within the picture must be less real again: or are these differentials meaningless in the light of Mauurice Denis's famous dictum that a picture is essentially a flat surface covered with colours arranged in a certain order? As an acquaintance of Denis and an adept connoisseur of art, both ancient and modern, the Irishman was fully conversant with such ideas.
O'Conor's intimiste works have to be placed in a context. It is a fact little acknowledged that he had to work harder than Bonnard or Vuillard to achieve an air of relaxed domesticity in pictures such as La Fenetre. Bonnard painted his wife at their shared home, Vuillard his mother in her home, whereas the Irishman was a bachelor and therefore totally reliant on models who would pose for him in his studio. In the early years of his occupancy the studio was rather bare and sparsely furnished, but the lack of clutter and finery gave an impression of working class simplicity. This ethos formed a close fit with the social background of his models, besides being consistent with his earlier interest in the Breton peasant as a subject.
Jonathan Benington 2001
Provenance:
The Artist's studio
Sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, Vente O'Conor, 7 February 1956
Private Collection, England
Waterhouse and Dodd, London
Ken and Kathleen Dornan, Vancouver, by 1992
Exhibited:
Paris, Salon des Independants, 1908, no.4496;
Paris, Salon d'Automne, 1909, no.1320.
Literature:
Jonathan Benington, Roderic O'Conor, Irish Academic Press, Dublin, 1992, p.204, no.113.