Roderic O'Conor (Irish, 1860-1940) - Lot 225

Roderic O'Conor (Irish, 1860-1940) The Laïta. 1893. Etching. 252 x 141. Johnston 32. Very fine proof printed with ground tint on strong ivory vellum. A small russet stain in the lower margin. Light trace of marginal oxidation at the edge of the mat. Annotation in pencil along lower edge at center: "Vente O'Conor 7/2/56 1/29 procès verbal Bellier Drouot Cailac N° 15". All margins. Workshop stamp (Lugt 3911). Stamp R. T. (front and back). This print was included in the Bibliothèque Nationale exhibition, Gauguin et l'école de Pont-Aven, 1989, and is reproduced in the catalog under no. 140. "The Laïta river flows through Saint-Julien, near Le Pouldu, where Armand Séguin had set up his studio and where he received O'Conor. O'Conor sought to render the evening falling over the river less through the combination of lines that scratch the metal than through the juxtaposition of volumes. The mountainous cloud on the left balances the composition, which is oriented to the left, as the water flows by. The retroussage (curling) allowed for two zones of shadow on either side of the water, surrounded by a dividing line that delimits its light". (M. Grivel, ed., Gauguin et l'École de Pont-Aven, exhibition catalog, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, 1989, p. 116).