WHYTE'S IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART Monday 19 October 2020

36 20 Roderic O’Conor (1860-1940) FLEURS SUR UNE CHAISE, 1919 oil on board signed and dated lower right; inscribed on reverse: “Roderic O’Conor, Fleurs sur une Chaise, No. 3” 18 by 21.50in. (45.7 by 54.6cm) Frame size: 26 by 29in. (66 by 74cm.) Provenance: Mr and Mrs DeWitt Lacey, California, purchased in Paris; By descent to previous owner; Sotheby’s, 13 May 2004, lot 80; Private collection; Whyte’s, 21 September 2004, lot 77; Private collection; Whyte’s, 18 May 2009, lot 62; Private collection Exhibited: ’Salon d’Automne’, Paris, 1920, catalogue no. 1659 This painting by O’Conor supplements our knowledge of his activities as a painter of still lifes, interpreted in the expressive idiom he favoured between 1919 and 1927. The vast majority of these works - including Fleurs sur une Chaise - exhibit a heavy build-up of pigment resulting from the extensive use of the palette knife. This technique places these late paintings of O’Conor firmly in the context of the so-called School of Paris, many of whose chief exponents, such as George Rouault and Dunoyer de Segonzac, were personal acquaintances of O’Conor’s. It is also worth noting that the Irishman owned a painting by the Russian émigré painter Chaïm Soutine, with whose energetic manipulation of the oil medium he must surely have felt an affinity. Most of O’Conor’s still lifes adhered to the traditional format of a range of objects placed on a tabletop, usually close to a window, which he viewed from a distance of about six feet. Fleurs sur une Chaise, on the other hand, is one of a very small number of works which departed from this norm by locating the objects on the seat of a chair rather than a table. The new format was accompanied by a shift in perspective. Instead of representing the objects within the setting of a room, the lower viewpoint meant that O’Conor could take a less formal approach focused to a much greater extent on one main subject, in this case a vase of flowers. O’Conor found that he could exploit the rich colour harmonies and contrasts brought into play by the close proximity of the flowers, the decoration of the vase, and the upholstery of the chair. The set of colours used on this occasion has been subjected to scientific analysis, which demonstrated a consistency with other works by the artist of similar date. The provenance of this painting is interesting. It appears that it was purchased in 1920 by the DeWitt Laceys, a Californian couple who paid regular visits to Paris where they stayed with their friends, the American painter Frederick Carl Frieseke (1874-1939) and his wife. Frieseke was not only a neighbour of O’Conor’s in the rue du Cerche-Midi, but also a friend and fellow habitu‚ of the billiards hall at the Brasserie de Versailles. The two men exchanged paintings and often took part in the same exhibitions. Frieseke was represented along with O’Conor in the 1920 Salon d’Automne, and no doubt suggested that the DeWitt Laceys buy Fleurs sur une Chaise from that show. The painting subsequently passed on by descent to two further generations of the DeWitt Laceys, thus remaining in the same family’s possession for 84 years. Jonathan Benington, 2009 €40,000-€60,000 (£35,560-£53,330 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot20