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William Conor RUA RHA (1884-1968)
The Friday Fish Cart
Oil on board, 40.5 x 51cm (16 x 20”)
Signed
Provenance: From the Collection of George and Maura McClelland and on loan from them to IMMA from 1999 -
2004; Private Collection Dublin
William Conor occupies a special place in the history of art in Northern Ireland, as perhaps the only painter
of all aspects of daily life throughout the province, from villagers going to mass, couples courting or drummers
practising for the marching season. Despite spending time in Paris, London and New York, his style was hardly
affected by the outside and retained a uniquely Irish tone in subject and style. His genre scenes are characterised
by Conor’s ability to transform the mundane and the impoverished experiences of life during two world wars
into something at times heroic, and always good humoured.
Conor carried a notebook with him at all times which he would use to “note down any happening which strikes
me as interesting and significant”, and by hiding his sketching block behind a newspaper he was able to “garner
many happy expressions”. His attitude is unpatronising and empathetic, as an artist he is not just an outside
observer, but one of those whose lives he depicts with such insight and good humour.
George McClelland inherited his appreciation for Conor’s paintings from his mother, who was a keen collector.
Conor’s representations are social history as much as distinctive works of art, and an invaluable record of life in
Northern Ireland in the first half of the 20th Century.
Conor succeeds in drawing the viewer into his scenes by appealing to all our senses. It is easy to imagine the
sound of children laughing or music playing, and the rough texture of the shawls worn by the mill girls. In
Friday Fish Cart
, his economic use of telling detail such as the girl with a finger to her nose to block out the
smell of the fish is one of the humorous hallmarks of Conor’s work at its best.
We would like to thank Catherine Marshall, those research formed the basis of this catalogue entry.
€20,000 - 30,000
