Seated Woman in a Red Dress 1925

Roderic O'Conor painted this woman in a red dress sometime in the early 20th century, and it looks like he was working from life. I can imagine him adjusting the canvas, squinting to catch the light, trying to find the right mix for that perfect shade of red. It's a cozy scene, a woman seated, and a kind of domestic interior. I’m drawn to the way O'Conor’s brushstrokes build up the forms. You can almost feel the texture of the paint, thick in some places, thin in others, creating a sort of sculptural surface. The way he’s handled the red of the dress, for example, it’s not just one flat color but a whole range of tones. It’s like he’s using the color to model the form, to give it weight and volume. Painters are always looking at other painters, stealing ideas, and riffing on what’s come before. I see echoes of the French Post-Impressionists in this piece, that interest in color and light, but O'Conor’s also doing his own thing. And that's how we push painting forward, one brushstroke at a time.