IMPORTANT IRISH ART · 27 MAY 2024 AT 6PM

54 30 William Conor OBE RHA RUA ROI (1881-1968) THE WHIRL OF THE DANCE oil on canvas signed lower left; titled on artist’s handwritten label on reverse 20 by 24in. (50.8 by 61cm) Frame Size: 26.5 by 30in. (67.3 by 76.2cm) Provenance: Presented by Mr Rehill, Coal Merchant, to R. M. Smyllie; By descent to T. Sheehan, nephew of R. M. Smyllie; Private collection Exhibited: RHA, Dublin, 1956, catalogue no. 82 (lent by Mrs K. Smyllie); Memorial Screen, RHA, Dublin, 1968, no. 1 This Belfast artist had an extraordinary capacity to produce AND contain movement in his compositions. Allied to his early training as a Poster Artist for David Allen & Co with his unique vision, his skill with movement and domestic detail is not unlike the 17th century Dutch artists who essayed the same themes and often sidebar humour. Conor disguised his real pictorial delivery by making accessible through domestic imagery the mood as well as the preoccupations of the Ulster people. But he did so knowing that so much of what he imagined for us, his viewers was also known, if unobserved, by us. So, he brought it into view or, if you will, foregrounded it for and to his audience. His almost unique technical skill in mixing oil pigment with wax, water colour and the lead pencil has given us vivid creations of memories, movement, vivacity and so often great charm. Here, in this work, of a ‘Ceilí‘ in the kitchen of a farmhouse the dancers exude fun, energy and happiness, the traditional musician plays out his heart for dancers as well as onlookers to create a conspiracy of happiness and joy. John Reihill senior and R.M. Smyllie the famous editor of the Irish Times would both have enjoyed the giving and receiving of this charming and evocative painting. It will long continue to delight its viewers. I can remember my father as Keeper and later President of the RHA remarking after the Ulster Artists works arrived and being unpacked some members of the ‘hanging’ sub-committee absenting themselves to call pals to say that the Conor works had arrived, and they’d best be into the RHA Varnishing or Opening days early to purchase. I think I only met him once, briefly, with Frank McKelvey RHA at an Opening Day. My Mother had acquired two smallish works by him of ‘Musicians’. Alas they went missing in one of our many house movings. Ciarán MacGonigal May 2024 €20,000-€30,000 (£17,090-£25,640 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot30