Morgan O'Driscoll Irish & International Art Auction 29th April 2019

48 39 William Crampton Gore RHA (1871-1946) Interior with the Artist’s Wife, Yvonne at Montreuil-sur-Mer signed lower left oil on canvas 76.25 x 65cm (30 x 25.5in) Provenance: Private Collection €6,000-€9,000 ($6,741-$10,112) (£5,084-£7,627) Depicting an interior in the Gore’s house in France, this oil painting combines elements of both Realism and Impressionism. The room is shown in subdued lighting, while outside the open window, a sun-drenched courtyard is visible, with plants and terracotta pots. The contrast between the brightly-lit courtyard and a restful interior, with its grey and brown tonalities, is captured by the artist with considerable skill. Seated on a chair, beside a polished circular table, Yvonne—who often served as artist’s model for her husband—is sewing, her attention fixed on the task in hand. Behind her is a chimneypiece and cupboard. Above the chimneypiece, a gilt framed mirror reflects the bright light outside. From the ceiling hangs a glass chandelier. The atmosphere is one of domestic calm and meditation; an everyday moment in a summer’s day. The son of an army officer from Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, William Crampton Gore studied medicine at Trinity College Dublin, graduating in 1897. The following year, he was working as a surgeon in London, while also attending classes at the Slade School of Art, where he studied under Henry Tonks--other teachers included Wilson Steer and Walter Russell. After practicing medicine for several years, followed by a spell as a ship’s surgeon, Gore decided to become a full-time painter. He returned to the Slade where, between 1900 and 1904, he was friends with William Orpen and Augustus John—he appears as the doctor in Orpen’s painting A Mere Fracture , painted in 1901 at 21 Fitzroy Street. Gore rented rooms at this address, a house nicknamed ‘The Newcomes’ (after the novel by Thackeray) and owned by a Mrs. Everett, a fellow student at the Slade. Orpen, Augustus John and Gwen John also had rooms in this house. Gore shared a studio with Augustus John, and also bought drawings by him. Gore then moved on to Paris, where he continued his art studies. By 1913 he was still in the French capital, from where he submitted paintings to the RA and the RHA, as well as to the Paris Salon. He was a dedicated painter, exhibiting over one hundred works at the RHA over the following decades. He was elected an ARHA in 1916, and a full member two years later. Although he spent most of his life in France, throughout the 1920’s Gore continued to make trips to Ireland, to paint landscapes. A painting of A Cottage Interior in Donegal , completed in 1930, was shown at the RHA the following year. Following their marriage in 1923, Gore and his French wife Yvonne set up house in a town overlooking the Canche valley in Northern France. Within easy distance of Paris, Montreuil-Sur-Mer was also on the route to Calais. Although the name suggests the town is by the sea, even in 1837, when Victor Hugo stayed at the inn, the Canche river had silted up, making Montreuil landlocked. Hugo chose Montreuil as one of the settings of his novel Les Miserables . Gore had been familiar with the town since before World War One: In 1909 he painted The Circus Vans, Montreuil . In the 1920’s he painted St. Saulve, the Benedictine abbey in the town, a scene depicted also by his cousin, the artist Dermod O’Brien, who stayed with the Gores from time to time. In another painting of the same interior of the family home, Gore depicted Yvonne holding their young daughter Elizabeth. The French doors are open, sunlight streams in through green louvred shutters, and there is a bowl of flowers on the circular table. Gore exhibited a portrait of Yvonne at the NEAC in 1927. Two years later, his daughter Elizabeth appears in another Montreuil painting, playing the piano. Gore was at his best with these paintings, which reflect his love of quiet domesticity, and of plants and flowers—among his still lives are depictions of Hyacinths, Phloxes, and Zinnias. In later years he encouraged the Royal Horticultural Society to host an exhibition of garden paintings at the Metropolitan School of Art. During World War II, Gore returned to England, where in 1940-41 he painted a view of the RAMC Medical Camp at Bury. His daughter married William “Bill” Burton (1907-1995), a painter from Norfolk, who attributed his initial interest in art to his Irish father-in-law. Peter Murray, March 2019