Impressionism, rather than Post-Impressionism, was the inspiration behind the rather earlier signed Autumn Landscape, illustrated here, which came under the hammer at Doyle’s (15/10 per cent buyer’s premium) May 23 sale of The Marguerite Dorment Collection in New York.
Thought to have been painted in 1886 near Grez-sur-Loing, the 211/4 by 2ft 13/4in (54 x 65.5cm) canvas is one of a small handful of plein air landscapes O’Conor produced under the direct influence of Monet and Sisley, whom he’d recently met at Moret-sur-Loing.
Mrs Dorment, a noted collector with homes in Manhattan, New Jersey and Palm Beach, had bought the painting from the New York dealers Schoneman Galleries Inc. in the 1960s.
Dublin dealer Roderic Milmo-Penny, who is preparing an illustrated survey of O’Conor’s most significant works, described the condition of the painting as “generally good – original, even untouched” but thought it had been “re-worked a couple of times” in the studio which, he felt, slightly compromised its Impressionist credentials. Nonetheless, Milmo-Penny proved a determine underbidder on the day, pushing a private American buyer up to $290,000 (£210,145) against an estimate of $150,000-250,000.
Exchange rate: £1 = $1.38
US collector beats Irish trade fan to £210,000 O’Conor
US: REVERED as the only Irish artist to have been fully involved in the developments of French avant garde painting during the early years of Modernism, Roderic O’Conor (1860-1940) has inspired a succession of impressive six-figure prices over the last couple of years, culminating in the £320,000 bid by a Dublin collector for a c.1903 Post-Impressionist oil, Nature Mort: Faience, at Sotheby’s June 21 sale of Modern British & Irish Art in London.
