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Sir William Newenham Montague Orpen

1878-1931 Ireland-Portraitist/War artist

 

Brief Biography- Sir William Newenham Montague Orpen was born in Stillorgan, Dublin, in 1878, the son of a solicitor. At eleven, he attended the Metropolitan School of Art until he was eighteen. Then, he entered the Slade School of Art in London in 1897 for two years, where he befriended Augustus John. He was a New English Art Club member in 1900 and exhibited at the Royal Academy, where he was elected ARA in 1910 and RA in 1919. Terborch, Van Eyck and Velasquez influenced some of his early works; later, Whistler influenced him.He taught at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art from 1908 to 1912, during which time he enjoyed a fruitful time of local painting besides doing portraits. He became a war artist during WW1, painting several pictures of the dead in trenches. One of his most famous paintings of the period is The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors. He spent the rest of his life in England when the war ended. One of his most noted students was Patrick Tuohy. In 2018, the artist and musician Ronnie Woods unveiled a sculpture of William Orpen by Rowan Gillespie near his home in Stillorgan, Dublin.

 

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Lady Herbert

Lady Evelyn Herbert

The Dragoon

The Roscommon Dragoon

Hamlet

Play Scene from Hamlet

The Thinker

The Thinker on the Butte de Warlencourt

The Holy Well

The Holy Well

Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

Resting

Resting

Sunlight

Sunlight

Cafe Royal

Cafe Royal London

A Mere Fracture

A Mere Fracture

Signing Peace

The Signing of the Peace in the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles

Sleep

Afternoon  Sleep

General A Currie

Lieutenant General Sir Arthur Currie

Sir A de Wiart

Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart

Augustus John

Augustus John

Gardenia

Gardenia Saint George with Riding Crop

Dead Germans

Dead Germans in a Trench

Thiepval

Thiepval

Noll

Son of Oliver Saint John Goggarty

Venus and I

Myself and Venus

Gardinia

Gardinia Saint George

Lewis Tomalin

Lewis Tomalin

Night

Night

The Mirror

The Mirror

Morning on the Cliff

Morning on the Cliff, Dublin Bay

Digby Cave

Digby Cave

Soldier

To the Unknown British Soldier in France

Spottiswoode

Master Spottiswoode

Zonnebeke

Zonnebeke

Self Portrait

Self Portrait

Mrs St George

Mrs Saint George

Bloomsburys

A Bloomsbury Family

A Grenadier

A Grenadier Guardsmen

Herbert Everett

Herbert Barnard John Everett

Kit

Kit

Henry Wilson

Sir Henry Hughes Wilson

Sowing New Seed

Sowing New Seed

William F Massey

William Ferguson Massey

English Model

The English Model

Man from Aran

The Man from Aran

A Bitter Curacao

A Bitter Curacao

Changing Billets

Changing Billets Picardy

David L George

David Loyd George

Miss Anne-

Miss Anne Harmsworth in an Interior

The Knackers Yard

The Knackers Yard

Midday

Midday on the Beach

Michael Davitt

Michael Davitt

Sir Anthony-

Sir Anthony P MacDonnell

Foster Family

The Vere Foster Family

Artist’s Daughter

The Artist’s Daughter Playing The Piano