Une Jeune Bretonne
Artist
Roderic O'Conor
(1860 - 1940)
Date1903
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions91.5 x 73.6 cm
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery.
Donated by Roderic O'Conor (the Artist), 1904.
Object number224
DescriptionRoderic O'Conor studied art at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin before moving to Paris in 1886. He was based at Pont-Aven in Brittany from 1891 to 1904 and was part of a group that had formed around Paul Gauguin. He was also greatly influenced by the work of Van Gogh although there is no evidence to suggest that he ever met him. This young Breton girl is the subject of several portraits by O'Conor from his time in Pont-Aven. The sitter wears traditional Breton dress but the 'ailes' of her headdress are untied and hanging down which indicate that she is in mourning. She also wears a heavy black shawl around her shoulders. That she has been bereaved is also evident from the melancholic, resigned expression on her face.
It contrasts with O'Conor's more expressive Pont-Aven landscapes and seascapes from the previous decade although passages of the painting recall the stripped divisionism of these works albeit in a more muted form.
Hugh Lane selected this work for inclusion in the exhibition of Irish art, which he organised for the London Guildhall in 1904. It was hung in Gallery One, which contained a selection of the most significant works.
Many sitters in O'Conor's portraits have an intensity of gaze and a certain expression of sadness. Both are present in this work, but in addition there is the quiet serenity and distant melancholy of this young girl. O'Conor painted this young girl on numerous occasions and the overall subdued treatment is appropriate to her mood.
On View
On view![No. 55 "On the Land: Ploughing" [From 'The Great War: Britain's Efforts And Ideals shown in a series of lithographic prints: 'Women's Work' series]](/internal/media/dispatcher/629/thumbnail)
![No. 56 "On the Railways: Engine and carriage cleaners" [From 'The Great War: Britain's Efforts And Ideals shown in a series of lithographic prints: 'Women's Work' series]](/internal/media/dispatcher/630/thumbnail)
![No. 58 "On Munitions: Skilled work" [From 'The Great War: Britain's Efforts And Ideals shown in a series of lithographic prints: 'Women's Work' series]](/internal/media/dispatcher/632/thumbnail)
![No. 59 "On Munitions: Dangerous work (Packing T.N.T.)" [From 'The Great War: Britain's Efforts And Ideals shown in a series of lithographic prints: 'Women's Work' series]](/internal/media/dispatcher/9443/thumbnail)