Roderick O'Conor (1860 - 1940)

Irish painter and engraver, part of the famous Pont-Aven School. Most of his career was spent in Belgium and France: after attending the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art and the schools of the Royal Hibernian Academy, he first went to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, then attended Charles Carolus-Duran's studio in Paris. Experimenting with Impressionist, Neo-Impressionist and Pointillist techniques, O'Conor stayed at the artists' colonies of Grez-sur-Loing and Pont-Aven. It was at Pont-Aven that the artist came into contact with the circle of Paul Gauguin (1848 - 1903). The two artists met for the first time in 1894 and became friends. O'Conor exhibited with Gauguin, Pierre Bonnard, Paul Sérusier and other leading artists at the Exposition des peintres impressionnistes et symbolistes in the 1890s.

From 1903 onwards, O'Conor's subjects moved away from depictions of Breton life to nudes, female figures, portraits and still lifes. He immersed himself in Parisian cultural life, notably with an exclusive group of British expatriates including Clive Bell, Arnold Bennett and Somerset Maugham. In 1933, O'Conor married his partner Henrietta (Renée) Honta, who often posed for the artist. The couple lived in France and Spain, and the artist died at their home in Cagnes-sur-Mer in 1940.