Lot 119 WILLIAM CONOR OBE RHA RUA ROI (1881 - 1968)
Title: Working in the Mill
Medium: Wax Crayon and Charcoal
Signature: Signed Lower Left
Provenance: The Gerry Cuddy Collection
Note: Oil paintings on the theme of Mill Workers by Conor were shown at the RHA, Dublin in 1919 (No. 137) and 1920 (No. 214)
Framed
John Hewitt has described William Conor as Ulster's ''representative artist' for the middle decades of the twentieth century and emphasises that Conor came to epitomise ''our best moods and impulses' (Hewitt, 1977: 86). Born in Belfast in 1881, William Conor's father was a sheet metal worker and the artist inherited his father's name. This familial link to the manufacturing industry was to impact on Conor's choice of subject matter and his depictions of Belfast life, with his compositions featuring shipyard workers, mill workers or ''shawlies'. The ''shawlie' was a working-class woman who wore a shawl to protect her from the elements. In Belfast they were associated with the linen mills, such as Brookfield Mill on the Crumlin Road. A bronze sculpture ''The Mill Worker' (2010) by Ross Wilson, located at the top of Cambrai Street, takes William Conor'spainting ''Going to the mills, Crumlin Road, 1914', as inspiration for the sculpture.
The information board that accompanies the work provides context for the importance of this industry at the time, ''Belfast was one of the fastest growing urban centres in Europe in the nineteenth - century, with the linen industry a major driver. The city's status as the world's biggest linen producer came about partly as a result of the cotton shortages in the 1860s caused by the American Civil War. In 1896, 96,000 people worked in linen in Belfast, making it the city's biggest employer. The profits enabled other industries to grow, including engineering, shipbuilding, tobacco, whiskey and rope - making. Belfast became a world leader in all of these industries.'
In his depictions of millworkers, Conor tended to depict small groups of women travelling to or from work. These ranged from intimate studies in charcoal, crayon or oil, to pairs in
conversation, and wider groups. Examples include: ''In the Morning, Mill Girls Going to Work', ''The Mill Girls', ''Belfast Mill Girls', 1907, and ''Going to the Mills, Crumlin Road', 1914. The subject is also addressed in Conor's large scale painting ''Ulster Past and Present', commissioned in 1931 for the Belfast Museum and Art Gallery and measuring 2.8m by 7.4m. The painting features ancient Irish warriors marching into battle to represent the past and the present is denoted by a group of Belfast mill and shipyard workers coming from work, with the mill buildings and cranes featured in the background. It was the largest mural in Ireland at the time. Unlike these works that focus on the active work journey, this composition ''Working in the Mill' in wax crayon and charcoal is a distinctive work in Conor's oeuvre as it constitutes a detailed interior scene and one of the few examples of this working environment. The treatment of materials is interesting. He uses charcoal to indicate the vast industrial interior and the monochrome upper half of the work underlines its utilitarian focus. Within the lower half of the composition, he incorporates colour, predominantly green, blue, black and light red.
The colour enlivens the figures, lending rhythm and a productive focus to the women's work. They sit at long tables with sewing machines before them. The figures on the left and right of the composition are treated differently. Two women stand engaged in conversation on the far right. To their left is a woman seated at the table with her back to them and she is working intently. These three figures have heightened definition in line and colour creating a scene within the overall scene. This serves to mark the passage of time, the three figures signifying a present moment and the remaining crowd of
women having a lighter ethereal quality that suggests the nostalgic past. Conor is perhaps commenting on the recession between the world wars that signalled a dramatic reduction in the demand for linen internationally. This artwork is essentially a piece of social history and it also celebrates the textile heritage of Belfast. It invites and holds the eye through the colour and dynamic activity of the composition.
Dr. Marianne O'Kane Boal,
February 2026
€3500 - 5500
Image: 41.5 x 38cm Framed: 54 x 60cm (approx.)
Tuesday 24th February 2026
19:10:12
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