Adams Important Irish Art 2nd December 2015 : You can Download a PDF Version from the Bottom Menu Down Arrow Icon

Fares Please

Wax crayon, 38 x 50cm (15 x 19½”)

Provenance: Previously in the collection of The Arts Council Of Northern Ireland who purchased it in 1961; their sale,

Sothebys, 24/11/93 catalogue no. 31 where purchased by current owner.

Kenneth Jamison found it refreshing that Conor was not aiming for a moralistic social commentary in his work - ‘He is

perhaps, a kind of Irish Daumier, but without the bitter satirical edge, certainly an impressionist of sorts whose affec-

tion for his subjects saved him from becoming doctrinaire’. (14, Causeway: The Arts in Ulster, 1971). It was important

to the artist that he gave a pure reflection of people in their habitual environment without applying an underlying

message. In a radio broadcast in 1961, he commented; ‘I’m not interested in social questions at all. I just want to

express my fellow men and women as I see them’. (13, Conor-Drawing from Life, 2002)

‘

Fares Please

’ is a perfectly orchestrated composition with harmonious figurative proportioning. In a compressed

space, Conor has distilled a scene that communicates the hustle and bustle of the city tramcar. Central to the work is

an upturned smiling face that shares in a joke with surrounding companions. In the right foreground there are two

figures engaged in cordial conversation. Behind the central figures, in the right corner, a man with hat is captured

in pale tones. He almost blends into the background of the tram window behind him. He looks down and could be

reading, perhaps, or taking a short nap. There is a sense of quietude and happy reflection in the three seated figures

to the left of the composition. The conductor, indicated in the title, is the only standing figure and, centrally placed

with arm stretched upward to hold onto the ceiling handles in the moving tram, he is an important structuring device

for the composition. The detail of the tram itself, as is common in the work of the artist, is kept to the essentials of

a contextual backdrop with no unnecessary details expressed. Conor accomplishes a remarkable feat in that he pro-

duces a vivacious scene full of local colour with a relatively limited and muted palette. It is the texture of the crayon

that heightens the liveliness of the composition.

Judith Wilson has observed, ‘When Conor’s idiosyncratic figures find themselves brought together in a drawing or

painting, it is as if the spectator, the observer, were eavesdropping, overhearing some snatch of conversation, some

tatter of gossip, badinage, rumour of song, some brief work of greeting, of endearment or comfort’. (121, Conor

1881-1968: The Life and Work of an Ulster Artist, 1977). This is exactly the feeling the viewer has with ‘Fares Please’

we can almost hear the conversations and the noise of the tram and traffic. Although the treatment is somewhat

looser, there is an affinity between

‘Fares Please’,

and

‘Evacuation of Children, Great Northern Railway Station, Belfast

’,

c1942 in the collection of the Ulster Museum. Executed in pencil and wax crayon on paper, it also features the out-

line of the train carriage in the background and a wide range of cheerful people are captured in conversation and in

saying their goodbyes. These scenes have a strong and memorable narrative and it is one full of a positive nostalgic

sentiment that leaves a lasting impression on the viewer.

Marianne O’Kane Boal, October 2015

€ 5,000 - 7,000