personality profile 72

Sir (1878–1931) by Ruben Pang

Introduction The Influence Of Major Sir William Newenham Montague Orpen was a profoundly Sir William Orpen’s aesthetic successful and versatile portrait sense was highly influenced painter working in 20th century by Impressionism, one of the Britain.1 He was also commissioned most prominent art movements as an official WarA rtist and served during the late 19th century. on the Western Front from 1917- Originating in Paris during the 1918. During this period, he 1870s, the Impressionists were produced a variety of works from a group of avant-garde painters portraits of senior military and who sought to create atmosphere political figures to paintings that and visual effects through depicted trench warfare. Following gesture and texture.4 Adapting the war, Orpen documented this new expression across a http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestand:William_Orpen_-_Self-Portrait.jpg the Paris Peace Conference. His variety of genres from landscapes Sir William Orpen, Self Portrait, 1913 extensive body of work eventually to portraits, their paintings earned him knighthood in 1918 accomplished a heightened sense and the recognition of being the of vibrancy and movement, often most prolific of his time. at the expense of detail—emphasis was placed on expressing the Early Life sensation of seeing over rendering Orpen was born in Stillorgan on specific features of a perceived 27 November 1878 to an affluent subject.5 Essentially, the idea was protestant home. His early interest to capture reality in a way which in art was supported by his photography could not. mother, who enrolled him into the Metropolitan School of Art in Impressionists experimented Dublin at the age of 13.2 He was with a diverse range of paint a natural artist, winning major manipulation techniques. They accolades for his work during his were particularly interested in years in school. At the age of 18, methods which accommodated Orpen was accepted into 's spontaneity and speed. A . It was distinguishing mark of an there he associated with equally Impressionist painting was the dynamic contemporaries, including manipulation of short, broken and , brush-strokes and the use of raw both of whom also served as war colors.6 This approach allowed the artists on the Western Front.3 figurative nature of any subject

POINTER, Journal of the singapore armed forces Vol. 38 No. 2 personality profile 73 to be captured quickly within one sitting (alla prima) and equipped artists with the means to paint outdoors (en plein air)—an advantage Orpen applied to his work on the Western Front.

The War Artist Orpen was an influential lecturer in his alma mater, the Metropolitan School of Art, when World War One broke out.7 By then, he had already established himself as a versatile and fashionable artist. In British and scenes Orpen was a renowned draughtsman who synthesized the skills of the Old Masters with a modern flair.I mparting techniques from Slade, Orpen introduced European classical realism to a new generation of Irish artists. Orpen also enjoyed the patronage of wealthy clients and became a member of the New Club through the recommendation of , another commissioned war artist. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/William_Orpen_A_Grenadier_Guardsmen.jpg Portrait of a Grenadier Guardsman In 1914, Orpen supported the war effort by contributing his was quickly identified by the spring 1917. During this period, he services to fund raising auctions head of the War Propaganda continued to paint the portraits for the Red Cross—where blank Bureau, Charles Mastermant, who of senior military and political canvases were sold to the formally appointed him as a war figures, as he did in the early highest bidder to have their artist in 1916.10 Assigned the task stages of the war. His subjects included , who at portrait painted. A year into of painting the portraits of senior the time was the commander of the the war, a sense of patriotism military personnel, Orpen was sent 6th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers; compelled him to undertake a to the trenches along the Western Hugh Trechnard, the commander commission under the British Front in France. Anticipating of the who 8 Army Service Corps. By dint the need to endorse the artist's helped oversee the creation of of his client, Quartermaster autonomy, Cowans facilitated the Royal Air Force;12 and Sir General Sir John Cowans, Orpen's promotion to the rank of Douglas Haig, a controversial he was given the rank of Major before dispatching him.11 general who accomplished an Second Lieutenant and effective British advance along served briefly as an The Western Front the Western Front which led to the Allied victory in November administrative clerk at Kensington Painting the Ranks. Orpen 9 1918.13 Orpen particularly admired Barracks. Orpen's artistic expertise arrived at the Western Front in

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Sir Douglas Haig's character and amount of his practice to “In one spot in the mud at the they became close friends during stylized studies of war and its side of the road lay two British the course of war. Orpen described ironic incarnations. In The Mad Tommies who had evidently just Haig as a “strong man … (who) Woman of Douai (1918), Orpen been killed. They had been laid understood, knew all, and felt all depicts a particularly memorable out ready for something to take for his men, that he truly loved encounter while travelling around them away ... Death all round, them; and (they) loved him.”14 It St. Quentin, France. In the and they themselves might was Haig who encouraged Orpen to foreground lie two improperly expand his painting repertoire to be blown into eternity at any include the varieties of characters buried casualties, the eponymous moment ... Another day I went to on the front. During a painting mad woman and her equally Douai, and there I saw the mad session, he said to Orpen, “Why disturbed company are juxtaposed woman. Her son told us she had waste your time painting me? Go against a ruined church’s surviving been quite well until two days and paint the men. They're the crucifix. Orpen never tried to before the Boche left, then they fellows who are saving the world, hide the grim details of war from had done such things to her that and they're getting killed every the viewer, allowing them to see she had lost her reason. There 15 day.” through the eyes of soldiers behind she sat, silent and motionless, the lines. The narrative to this except for one thumb which Orpen adapted to the new painting is found in his memoir, constantly twitched. But if one environmental constraints by An Onlooker In France: of us in uniform passed close to approaching his subjects with a sense of economy; a considerable shift from the meticulous romanticized style he was known for. With this bravura style, Orpen’s mantra was “A painting well drawn is always well enough painted.” The artist Harrington Mann, noted of Orpen’s focus on precision and efficiency in his bookThe Technique of Portrait Painting:

“The face of the man before him was like the page of an open book which he read with astonishing insight. He made a literal transcript which he handed on to anyone who cared to know. It is the physical character which is of interest to the painter, but he knows that if he can but get this skin-deep truth, he has got everything ... Even with his Irish sense of humour, Orpen always told the truth. This is real portraiture.”16

Comedy and Tragedy on the Front. Although obliged to focus his efforts on billet portraits, http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib/149/media-149028/large.jpg?action=d Orpen dedicated a substantial The Mad Woman of Douai, 1918

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Orpen describes the initial environment in An Onlooker in France: “I shall never forget my first sight of the battlefields. It was snowing fast, but the ground was not covered, and there was this endless waste of mud, holes and water. Nothing but mud, water, crosses and broken tanks; miles and miles of it, horrible and terrible.”19 And its transformation: “The dreary, dismal mud was baked white and pure-dazzling white. White daisies, red poppies and a blue flower, great masses of them, stretched for miles and miles.”20 A similar atmospheric contrast is seen when

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Orpen_Thiepval.jpg comparing (1917) to the adumbrated, lifeless landscape Theipval, 1917 of (1918) and Dead Germans In A Trench (1917). her, she would give a convulsive The War Landscape. World shudder. It was sad, this woman War One was the first fully Zonnebeke (1918) is Orpen’s with her beautiful, curly-headed industrialised war of the twentieth 17 depiction of the carnage left son.” century and the scale of its behind by the 3rd Battle of destruction literally scarred the Orpen's personal touch and Ypres, part of the Passchendaele earth; entire battlefields were choice of subject matter was campaign from June to November rendered unrecognizable. Orpen well received in exhibitions and 1917. A combination of heavy rain observed and documented publications. He captured the and continuous artillery shelling battlefields in different states, front in a way which the cameras had turned the area into a muddy could not. The novelist Arnold from the putrefaction of trench swampland. Terrible losses were Bennet, who was an influential warfare to the beauty of nature’s suffered in repeated attacks affiliate of the War Propaganda gradual reclamation though the and counter-attacks; both sides Bureau, said of Orpen and his work: seasons. had each lost 250,000 men.21 “William Orpen, having discovered In November 1917, the British In the summer months of a new subject, composes it newly concluded the Passchendaele ... Landscape, shell-holes, ruined 1916, the British and Germans offensive after pushing their trees and buildings, dug-outs, engaged each other in an intense lines only five miles forward.22 By tents, and the tragedy and comedy battle in Thiepval, Somme. Orpen then, Zonnebeke was rendered of human existence—he sees returned to the battlefield after unrecognizable. them as though nobody had ever a few months to find human seen them before; and he arranges remains and fragments of spent Letters, Paintings and them in fresh patterns of contour, equipment amidst fine weather Drawings from the Front. colour, plane. His ingenuity in and efflorescence. The abject Although Orpen’s experience of manipulating the material is beauty of this landscape is conflict was comfortable compared simply endless, and yet he is never captured in his painting titled the conscripted men, he was still tempted to falsify the material.”18 Theipval (1917). brought face-to-face with the

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the general attitude of the “frocks”; office holders who complained of the burden of war work; long hours, overwork and the inconveniences of air raids. For Orpen, it was clear that the population who had not experienced the front-line could not appreciate the gravity of the sacrifices that the soldiers had made. He was repulsed when the “hand-shakers” spoke of their grievances as though “they were well in the middle of the world war; they were just the same as the fighting man in France or on some other front.”28

The Paris Peace Conference. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Orpen_-_Zonnebeke_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg Following the war, Orpen was Zonnebeke, 1918 appointed the official artist horrors of war on the Western Front containing selected paintings of the Paris Peace Conference, Front.23 In a letter addressed to and drawings to supplement the producing The Peace Conference his wife Grace, he had described narrative. Orpen wrote passionately At The Quai d’Orsay (1919) and waterlogged trenches, destroyed of the variety of personalities that The Signing of Peace in the Hall shell-holes and the accumulation he painted; Tommies, Generals of Mirrors, Versailles (1919).29 It of unburied corpses. As a result and civilians alike. Most notable was a sombre affair as the of prolonged exposure to this was his affinity with the men on Allies’ initial feelings of contaminated environment, Orpen the front, especially the ordinary jubilation had succumbed to an contracted blood poisoning in soldier, which he describes with anti-climatic exhaustion. Orpen October 1917 and subsequently fascination and admiration. chose to render these principal suffered from influenza. Orpen In “Chapter Two: The Somme,” scenes with an ominous palette, never fully recovered from these Orpen recalls being deeply affected illnesses and continued to suffer dwarfing its personages while by the “endless stream of men ... from them until his death.24 Despite emphasizing negative space and all pressing along with apparently this, he continued to produce a vertical gravity. His summary of around 125 paintings and drawings, unceasing energy towards the front. the event is recorded in “Chapter chronicling the war environment Past all the little crosses where Fifteen: Paris During The Peace and those who endured it.25 their comrades had fallen, nothing Conference” of An Onlooker In He then compiled this collection daunted, they pressed on towards France: and presented the entire series as the Hell that awaited them.”27 a gift to the nation.26 “Then, amidst a mass of secretaries In contrast, he indicted the from the French Foreign Office, the two Germans, Hermann Müller Post War political elite, whose avarice and and Doctor Bell, came nervously mismanagement of the war resulted War Memories. In 1921, forward, signed, and were led back in the sacrifice of readily forgotten Orpen published An Onlooker In to their places ... All the "frocks" soldiers. In “Chapter Ten: London,” France, an insightful account of did all their tricks to perfection. Orpen finds himself disturbed by his experiences on the Western President Wilson showed his back

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teeth; Lloyd George waved his Soldier in France, it depicts a coffin as Orpen’s most moving painting Asquithian mane; Clemenceau flanked by two ghostly figures, within the museum's collection. whirled his gray-gloved hands draped with tattered blankets from about like windmills; Lansing the trenches and set in contrast Critical and Commercial drew his pictures and Mr. Balfour Success. The publicity Orpen slept. It was all over. The "frocks" against the ornate background received from his War Artist had won the war. The "frocks" of the Paris Peace Conference. had signed the Peace! The Army The haunting image’s ambiguity status substantially boosted his was forgotten. Some dead and garnered mixed reactions from the reputation. In , his war forgotten, others maimed and public and was attacked by the paintings exhibition at Agnew’s forgotten, others alive and well— press.31 Due to the controversy, Gallery in London was held in but equally forgotten ...”30 Orpen was subsequently required critical acclaim by the Pathé 33 to paint over the images of news and drew 10,000 visitors. Orpen painted a third tribute in The general public especially reaction to the injustice he felt for the dead soldiers. The painting connected with his harsh portrayal the forgotten soldiers. It was also was eventually accepted and of war. Within a year, Orpen was intended to be an allegory of the exhibited in the Imperial War 32 knighted for his contributions in political elite’s administration at Museum in 1927. Even after its support of the war.34 On a success the expense of soldiers on the front revision, To the Unknown British streak, he returned to portrait line. Titled To the Unknown British Soldier in France is often cited painting, enjoying a stream of new commissions that fetched ever-increasing prices. In 1929, he was reported to have earned over £54000 within the year. Over the course of his career, Orpen produced over 600 paintings, dedicating the majority of his practice to portraiture.

Today, Sir William Orpen is remembered as a frisson of history and personality. Within the art world, his vocations were as varied as his paintings: brilliant student, influential teacher, master portraitist and perhaps the most formidable war artist of the 20th century. 

Endnotes 1. ian Chilvers, “Sir William Orpen,” A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art (, 1999), http://www.encyclopedia.com/ doc/1O5-OrpenSirWilliam.htm

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/William_Orpen_To_the_Unknown_British_Soldier_in_France.jpg 2. ibid.

To the Unknown British Soldier in France (After Amendment) 3. ibid.

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4. margaret Samu, “Impressionism: 19. Orpen, An Onlooker in France, 11. Art and Modernity,” Heilbrunn 20. Ibid., 20. Timeline of Art History (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 21. Robert Upstone, “Sir William Orpen 1878-1931, 2000), http://www.metmuseum. Zonnebeke 1918,” February 2002, org/toah/hd/imml/hd_imml.htm. http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ 5. ibid. ViewWork?cgroupid=-1&workid=27 378&searchid=false&roomid=false 6. ibid. &tabview=text&texttype=10. 7. Bruce Arnold, “William Orpen and 22. Ibid. his Experiences on the Somme,” 1 November 2008, http://www. 23. Bruce Arnold, “William Orpen and his Experiences on brucearnold.ie/pages/art_files/ the Somme.” William-Orpen-and-his-Experienc- es-on-the-Somme.php 24. Chris Petter, “Sir William Orpen Biography,” University of Victoria 8. “Who’s Who – Sir William Orpen,” Library Special Collections, 2004, Firstworldwar.com, 22 August 2009, http://spcoll.library.uvic.ca/Digit/ http://www.firstworldwar.com/ orpen/Biography/biography.htm. bio/orpen.htm. 25. “William Orpen, Por- trait of a Forgotten Artist,” 9. ibid. CatholicIreland.net, June 2005, 10. “Who’s Who – Sir William Orpen.” http://www.catholicireland.net/ pages/index.php?nd=57&art=716 11. Ibid. 26. Ibid. 12. “Who’s Who – Hugh Trenchard,” 27. orpen, An Onlooker in France, 11. Firstworldwar.com, 22 August 2009, http://www.firstworldwar.com/ 28. Ibid., 35. bio/trenchard.htm. 29. “Who’s Who – Sir William Orpen.” 13. “Who’s Who – Sir Douglas Haig,” 30. Orpen, An Onlooker in France, 57. Firstworldwar.com, 22 August 2009, http://www.firstworldwar.com/ 31. “Who’s Who – Sir William Orpen.” bio/haig.htm. 32. Ibid. 14. Sir William Orpen, An Onlooker 33. Upstone, “Sir William Orpen 1878- in France (London: Williams and 1931, Zonnebeke 1918.” Norgate, 1921), 15, http://www. 34. Ibid. gutenberg.org/ebooks/20215. 15. Ibid. 16. John Howard Sanden, “The Art of Sir William Orpen,” Worldofportrait- painting.com, 6 June 2011, http:// www.worldofportraitpainting. com/commentary-sanden/orpen. htm. 17. orpen, An Onlooker in France, 44. 18. John Simkin, “William Orpen,” Spartacus Educational, 23 January 2012, http://www.spartacus. schoolnet.co.uk/ARTorpen.htm.

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