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Between Paris and Pont-Aven, Roderic O’Conor and the Moderns, opens at the National Gallery in Dublin tomorrow and runs until  October 28. It presents around 43 of O’Conor’s works alongside his better known contemporaries Gauguin and van Gogh, who were his good friends. It focusses on the pictures made by O’Conor in Pont-Aven between 1887 and 1895.   The modern artists gathered then in the remote Brittany village were at the absolute forefront of the avant-garde in art.

O’Conor and Gauguin often painted side by side and one drawing by Gauguin includes in the background some self portraits by the Irish artist.  After Gauguin’s death in 1903 O’Conor stopped going to Brittany and settled in Paris.  Suspicious of dealers he turned down the  chance to be represented by the legendary Ambroise Vollard, who provided invaluable exposure for artists like Cezanne, van Gogh, Degas, Picasso and Matisse.  This decision goes some way towards explaining why the reputation of this extraordinary Irish master suffered and still awaits proper rediscovery on the international scene.  Hopefully the National Gallery show will go some way towards redressing this imbalance.

Roderic O’Conor (1860-1940) Still Life with Apples, c.1893
Private Collection. Image Courtesy of Jean-Luc Baroni Ltd.

Roderic O’Conor (1860-1940) Field of Corn, Pont-Aven, 1892. © National Museum NI. Collection Ulster Museum.

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) Bowl of Fruit and Tankard before a Window, 1890 © National Gallery London, Bequeathed by Simon Sainsbury, 2006

Roderic O’Conor (1860-1940) A Tree in a Field Private Collection. Photographer: Roy Hewson

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 17th, 2018 at 10:22 am and is filed under ART. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.