Kathleen-Letitia O'Connor Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Kathleen-Letitia O'Connor Art Value Price Guide

May. 21, 2024
KATHLEEN LETITIA (KATE) O'CONNOR - IN MEMORY OF FRANCIS HODGKINS - WATERCOLOUR
Est: $18,000 - $25,000
KATHLEEN LETITIA (KATE) O'CONNOR (1876-1968) IN MEMORY OF FRANCIS HODGKINS Signed and dated (19)12 lower right, titled lower left Watercolour 31 x 38.5cm Estimate $18,000/25,000 AUD
GFL Fine Art
May. 23, 2023
KATHLEEN LETITIA (KATE) O'CONNOR - STILL LIFE WITH BOTTLES WITH PORTRAIT OF A GIRL VERSO - OIL ON CANVAS
Est: $15,000 - $20,000
KATHLEEN LETITIA (KATE) O'CONNOR (1876-1968) STILL LIFE WITH BOTTLES WITH PORTRAIT OF A GIRL VERSO Signed with initials lower left Oil on canvas 60 x 44cm Estimate $15,000/20,000 AUD
GFL Fine Art
Nov. 16, 2021
§ KATHLEEN O'CONNOR 1876-1968 In the Luxemburg Gardens (circa 1913) verso: Self Portrait with Book oil on board
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
§ KATHLEEN O'CONNOR 1876-1968 In the Luxemburg Gardens (circa 1913) verso: Self Portrait with Book oil on board signed 'KLO'C' lower left 49 x 64 cm PROVENANCE Kathleen O'Connor, Paris Private Collection, France Impressionniste & Moderns, Aguttes, Drouet-Richelieu, Paris, 20 October 2019, lot 27 Private Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above
Smith & Singer
Nov. 10, 2021
KATE O'CONNOR, LUXEMBOURG GARDENS, PARIS, GIRL SKETCHING, c.1917 – 23
Est: $14,000 - $18,000
KATE O'CONNOR (1876 - 1968, New Zealand/Australian) LUXEMBOURG GARDENS, PARIS, GIRL SKETCHING, c.1917 – 23 oil on board 42.5 x 59.5 cm signed with initials lower left: KOC signed (twice) verso: OConnor signed and inscribed on artist's label verso: Luxemberg [sic] Gardens / Paris / Girl sketching / KLOConnor PROVENANCE Mervyn Horton, Sydney (label attached verso) Private collection, Perth Sotheby's, Sydney, 15 August 2000, lot 68 Private collection, Perth LITERATURE Harris, M., 'Kate O'Connor', Art and Australia, vol. 3, no. 4, March 1966, p. 271 (illus.) RELATED WORK Woman in a Hat Sketching – Luxembourg Gardens, illus. in Harris, M., 'Kate O'Connor', Art and Australia, vol. 3, no. 4, March 1966, p. 267
Deutscher and Hackett
May. 25, 2021
KATHLEEN LETITIA (KATE) O'CONNOR - STILL LIFE
Est: $15,000 - $18,000
KATHLEEN LETITIA (KATE) O'CONNOR (1876-1968) STILL LIFE Signed lower right Oil on board 38 x 25.5cm $15,000/18,000 (AUSTRALIAN)
GFL Fine Art
Aug. 16, 2020
KATHLEEN LETITIA (KATE) O'CONNOR - (1876-1968) - PORTRAIT
Est: $6,000 - $9,000
KATHLEEN LETITIA (KATE) O'CONNOR (1876-1968) PORTRAIT Signed lower left Oil on board 38 x 30cm $6,000/9,000
GFL Fine Art
Nov. 27, 2019
KATE O'CONNOR, (1876 – 1968, New Zealand/Australian), THE CHOIR, oil on wood panel
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
KATE O'CONNOR (1876 – 1968, New Zealand/Australian) THE CHOIR oil on wood panel SIGNED: signed with initials lower right: KL O’C signed and inscribed on old label verso: Kathleen O’Connor / The Croquis Class / … bears inscription on frame verso: B FINEMORE / LES CROQUIS COLLECTION BRIAN FINEMORE / 16 DIMENSIONS: 56.0 x 40.5 cm PROVENANCE: Osborne Art Gallery, Adelaide Private collection Brian Finemore, Melbourne Deutscher Fine Art, Melbourne Private collection, Melbourne EXHIBITED: Exhibition of Paintings by Kathleen O’Connor, Osborne Art Gallery, Adelaide, 28 April – 11 May 1965, cat. 13 (as ‘The Croquis Class’)
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 27, 2019
KATE O'CONNOR, (1876 – 1968, New Zealand/Australian), ROSES OF THE RIVIERA, oil on cardboard
Est: $15,000 - $20,000
KATE O'CONNOR (1876 – 1968, New Zealand/Australian) ROSES OF THE RIVIERA oil on cardboard SIGNED: signed with initials lower left: KL O’C signed verso: O’Connor bears inscription verso: no 33 / Roses of the Riviera bears inscription on frame verso: Kate O’Connor / “Roses of the Riviera” DIMENSIONS: 58.5 x 43.5 cm PROVENANCE: Deutscher Fine Art, Melbourne Private collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above in July 1989
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 27, 2019
KATE O'CONNOR, (1876 – 1968, New Zealand/Australian), AN IMPRESSION OF A TABLE IN MY HOME IN NICE, 1947, oil on board
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
KATE O'CONNOR (1876 – 1968, New Zealand/Australian) AN IMPRESSION OF A TABLE IN MY HOME IN NICE, 1947 oil on board SIGNED: signed lower right: KL O’Connor signed, dated and inscribed verso: O’Connor / O’Connor / Nice / 1947 signed and inscribed with title on old label attached verso: Impression / of a table in my home / in Nice - / KL O’Connor DIMENSIONS: 61.5 x 50.0 cm PROVENANCE: Sir Arthur and Lady Rymill, Adelaide (label attached verso) Deutscher Fine Art, Melbourne (label attached verso) Private collection, Melbourne ESSAY: For much of the 1930s, Kathleen O’Connor travelled extensively through France as the paid companion to the wealthy widow, Harriet Stewart Dawson, whom she had first met on board ship when returning to Australia in 1926.1 Dawson often stayed at her villa in Monaco which gave O’Connor the opportunity to explore much of the nearby coastline, including the resort town of Nice, travelling in, she claimed, her employers’ luxurious Rolls Royce.2 The light in this stretch of the Riviera is renowned and had already been a direct stimulus to the work of artists such as Matisse. For O’Connor, it was no different, forming a possible link in her memory to the equally strong sun of Western Australia. On her return to Paris following the Second World War, O’Connor had four works selected for inclusion in the exhibition Artistes Britanniques sur la Côte d’Azur to be held at the Musée Masséna in Nice in late 1947. When revisiting the city, she decided to stay and began ‘a sojourn of almost a year at the Hotel St Louis’.3 Her biographer Amanda Curtin has observed, ‘there is no evidence of Kate securing studio space in Nice but she did manage to paint. Works from this period include Pink glass – Nice (last identified in family holdings), Ensemble, Nice (private collection) and two portraits’.4 Patrick Hutchings identifies the pink bottle in An Impression of a Table in my Home, Nice as forming part of the collection of objects inherited by the artist’s niece Muriel Dawkins.5 Given O’Connor’s propensity for re-exhibiting old works with new titles in subsequent exhibitions, it is plausible that this painting could be one of the two still lifes identified by Curtin. The inclusion of the exotic location within the revised title may well have been one of her strategies to attract a buyer on her return to Australia. An Impression of a Table in my Home, Nice bears stylistic similarities to Verging on the Abstract, c.1938 (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne) but presents a richer palette of colours, no doubt reflective of the Riviera’s light. 1. Dawson’s husband was David Stewart Dawson, who founded a successful chain of stores. Following his death in 1932, his widow married a Prince from the Polish royal family in 1938 and sold her villa in Monaco. 2. Patrick Hutchings believes this is an example of O’Connor ‘gilding the lily’ in regard to her biographical details. Having seen photographs of this vehicle, he identifies it instead as a 1930 Vauxhall Grosvenor limousine, a luxurious machine but hardly a Rolls Royce as O’Connor claimed. Conversation with Patrick Hutchings, 20 October 19 3. Curtin, A., Kathleen O’Connor of Paris, Fremantle Press, Western Australia, 2018, p. 194 4. ibid. 5. Conversation with Patrick Hutchings, op. cit. ANDREW GAYNOR
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 27, 2019
KATE O'CONNOR, (1876 – 1968, New Zealand/Australian), A DREAM OF PERSIA, c.1948, oil on wood panel
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
KATE O'CONNOR (1876 – 1968, New Zealand/Australian) A DREAM OF PERSIA, c.1948 oil on wood panel SIGNED: signed with initials lower right: KL O’C signed verso: O’Connor bears inscription verso: 1613 / 16-6-65 / 5 bears inscription on old label verso: Perth Society of Artists / Kathleen L O’Connor / Perth / 37A Mount St W … / A Dream of Persia / … signed and inscribed on old label verso: Kathleen L O’Connor / ‘a Persian inspired / … Society of / Artists DIMENSIONS: 71.5 x 56.0 cm PROVENANCE: Osborne Art Gallery, Adelaide Private collection Deutscher Fine Art, Melbourne Private collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above in April 1986 EXHIBITED: Exhibition of Paintings by Kathleen O’Connor, Osborne Art Gallery, Adelaide, 28 April – 11 May 1965, cat. 5 Possibly: Perth Society of Artists, Skinner Galleries, Perth, June 1965 Australian Art: Colonial to Modern, Deutscher Fine Art, Melbourne, 9 – 25 April 1986, cat. 99 (illus. in exhibition catalogue) ‘Flowers are not just flowers but exist in a vibrating decorative ambiency ( sic). This is the essence of the true impressionist outlook’.1 The rich red background of A Dream of Persia recalls the powerful tempera paintings O’Connor executed in the late 1920s, as does the sharp delineation of the individual objects. There are also echoes of the treatment the artist utilised in The Algerian Hat (lot 35), through the fracturing of the background plane and the potential dissolving of the flowers’ petals. These aspects, combined with the radiant light and the bold, palette knife application of the paint, point to this being executed shorty after her return to Australia in 1948, possibly to make up for the forced destruction of 150 paintings courtesy of the Fremantle Customs officials. The use of the word ‘dream’ in the title also hints at it being a form of memento mori, created in an attempt to capture the memory of happier days in Paris. When commenting on an earlier still life, In My studio, Paris, c.1935 – 39 (National Gallery of Australia, Canberra), the critic Robert Hughes observed: ‘When you look at it you see the delectable froth of light breaking up the forms and leaving them still somewhat legible … but what really counts is the exuberant action of the line weaving and flickering through paint strokes of very high-key colour and then anchored by the fat, prosperous curve of the beautifully painted jug. She had a gift for organising image as surface, a fine voyeur-like sort of knitting that few local painters of the time could even approach’.2 1. Elizabeth Young quoted in Harris, M., ‘Kate O’Connor’, Art and Australia, Ure Smith, Sydney, vol. 3, no. 4, March 1966, p. 272 2. Hughes, R., quoted in ‘The Australian National Gallery Building: the collection’, Art and Australia, The Fine Arts Press, Sydney, vol. 14, nos. 3 & 4, Summer – Autumn, January and April 1977, p. 263 ANDREW GAYNOR
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 27, 2019
KATE O'CONNOR, (1876 – 1968, New Zealand/Australian), THE ALGERIAN HAT, c.1949 – 51, oil on board
Est: $60,000 - $80,000
KATE O'CONNOR (1876 – 1968, New Zealand/Australian) THE ALGERIAN HAT, c.1949 – 51 oil on board SIGNED: signed lower left: KL O’CONNOR DIMENSIONS: 99.0 x 72.5 cm PROVENANCE: Osborne Art Gallery, Adelaide Private collection Sotheby’s, Perth, 17 September 1990, lot 60 (as ’Algernon’s Hat’) Private collection, Melbourne EXHIBITED: Exhibition of Paintings by Kathleen O’Connor, Osborne Art Gallery, Adelaide, 28 April – 11 May 1965, cat. 20 Kate O’Connor, South Yarra Gallery, Melbourne, November 1966, cat. 22 Kathleen O’Connor retrospective: Chasing Shadows, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 4 July – 29 September 1996 (label attached verso) LITERATURE: Harris, M., ‘Kate O’Connor’, Art and Australia, Ure Smith, Sydney, vol. 3, no. 4, March 1966, p. 268 (illus.) Gooding, J., Chasing Shadows: The Art of Kathleen O’Connor, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1996, p. 65 Curtin, A., Kathleen O’Connor of Paris, Fremantle Press, Perth, 2018, pp. 210 – 11 RELATED WORK: Australian Riches, c.1950, oil and charcoal on canvas, 87.7 x 69.2 cm, in the collection of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth ESSAY: In the 1920s, a number of Australian artists, including Roy de Maistre, Adrian Feint and Margaret Preston, applied their talents to domestic design in the fields of textiles, ceramics and interiors. Kathleen O’Connor did likewise when she lived in Sydney in 1927, working for the Grace Bros. and David Jones department stores. She had commenced these activities in the early 1920s and following some years painting velvets for leading fashion houses, her ‘next activity was painting Algerian hats of native fibre, bent into every shape, and worn by the smart set at Deauville, Biarritz and even Paris’.1 It is one of these exaggeratedly tall hats which lies on its side forming the arresting backdrop in The Algerian Hat, c.1949 – 51. Its strong bands of colour suggest that this may be one of the examples hand-painted by O’Connor. The traditional patterns of northern African textiles had featured earlier in the artist’s oeuvre in striking works such as Flowers and Oriental Carpet (Algeria), c.1928 – 29 and Colour Rhythm, c.1928 (both Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth [AGWA]). This interest had its roots in the 1925 Internationale des Arts Décoratifs Exhibition in Paris, after which ‘designers adapted the traditional geometric patterns and bold colours of North African rugs into original designs that harmonised with the clean lines of the new furniture and interior designs trends’.1 Although painted in Australia some twenty years later, The Algerian Hat indicates the strong attraction that these crafted objects retained for O’Connor as she arranged her intricate still lifes. In December 1949, she took a studio in Fremantle and two significant paintings soon followed, The Algerian Hat, and its near-twin companion Australian Riches, c.1949 – 51 (AGWA). As O’Connor’s biographer Patrick Hutchings observed, in contrast to the softer European light of her French still lifes, these new works presented ‘a new palette and a new manner for the clear, unfiltered, often hard light of Western Australia’.2 Within a cluttered arrangement of objects – apples, cups, flowers, a cowrie shell, jug and woven hat – O’Connor explores the possibilities of modernism, particularly as presented by Paul Cézanne There are small shifts in tone and technique between Australian Riches and The Algerian Hat, and both works radiate with optimism and vitality. They are also painted with consummate skill and attention, evidence of an artist at her peak, having already exhibited successfully in London and France for the greater part of four decades. 1. ‘Miss O’Connor Interviewed in Sydney’, Daily News, Perth, 11 May 1927, p. 9 2. Gooding, J., Chasing Shadows: the art of Kathleen O’Connor, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1996, pp. 46 – 47 3. Hutchings, P. A. E., and Lewis, J., Kathleen O’Connor: artist in exile, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Western Australia, 1987, p. 234 ANDREW GAYNOR
Deutscher and Hackett
May. 23, 2017
Kathleen O'Connor 1876 - 1968
Est: $2,000 - $3,500
Kathleen O'Connor 1876 - 1968 Old Pensioner Pastel Signed and dated 1903 lower right 47 x 31 cm
McKenzies Auctioneers
Mar. 21, 2017
Kathleen O'Connor 1876 - 1968
Est: $3,000 - $6,000
Kathleen O'Connor 1876 - 1968 Old Pensioner Pastel Signed and dated 1903 lower right 47 x 31 cm Note: The same subject illustrated page 131, Kathleen O'Connor, Artist in Exile. Listed as being in the possession of the Lee Steere family. Provenance: Lee Steere family
McKenzies Auctioneers
May. 04, 2016
KATE O'CONNOR, (1876 - 1968, New Zealand/Australian), STILL LIFE, 1939, oil on canvas
Est: $10,000 - $15,000
KATE O'CONNOR, (1876 - 1968, New Zealand/Australian), STILL LIFE, 1939, oil on canvas SIGNED: signed lower left: K.L. OConnor dated lower centre: 1939 signed on stretcher verso: OConnor DIMENSIONS: 61.0 - 46.0 cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Perth Arthur Spartalis Fine Art, Perth Private collection, Perth acquired from the above in 2008
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 24, 2015
KATHLEEN LETITIA (KATE) O'CONNOR - STILL LIFE AND JAPANESE SCREEN - Watercolour
Est: $8,000 - $10,000
KATHLEEN LETITIA (KATE) O'CONNOR STILL LIFE AND JAPANESE SCREEN Signed lower left Watercolour 48 x 42cm $8,000/10,000
GFL Fine Art
Nov. 25, 2014
KATHLEEN O'CONNOR 1876-1968 Still Life oil on fibre board
Est: $12,000 - $18,000
KATHLEEN O'CONNOR 1876-1968 Still Life oil on fibre board signed 'K L O'Connor' lower left 46.4 x 51.2 cm PROVENANCE Private Collection, Sydney Private Collection, Melbourne in 1980, by descent PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, MELBOURNE
Smith & Singer
Dec. 04, 2012
KATHLEEN LETITIA (KATE), O'CONNOR (1876-1968),
Est: $7,000 - $10,000
KATHLEEN LETITIA (KATE), O'CONNOR (1876-1968), STILL LIFE POPPIES, Signed lower left, Watercolour
GFL Fine Art
Nov. 22, 2011
KATHLEEN LETITIA (KATE) O'CONNOR (1876-1968) STILL LIFE AND JAPANESE SCREEN
Est: $12,000 - $18,000
KATHLEEN LETITIA (KATE) O'CONNOR (1876-1968) STILL LIFE AND JAPANESE SCREEN Signed lower left Watercolour 48 x 42cm
GFL Fine Art
Jun. 23, 2010
Kathleen Letitia O'Connor (1876-1968) Still Life
Est: $8,000 - $10,000
Kathleen Letitia O'Connor (1876-1968) Still Life with Daisies and Vase Oil on card Signed lower right 61.5 x 46.5cm Provenance: Direct from the artist to the family and then via descent through the family
McKenzies Auctioneers
Jun. 23, 2010
Kathleen Letitia O'Connor (1876-1968) Still Life
Est: $8,000 - $14,000
Kathleen Letitia O'Connor (1876-1968) Still Life Oil on card Signed indistinctly, lower left 57 x 43cm Provenance: Direct from the artist to the family and then via descent through the family
McKenzies Auctioneers
Sep. 23, 2009
Kathleen Letitia O'Connor (1876 - 1968) Floral
Est: $4,000 - $8,000
Kathleen Letitia O'Connor (1876 - 1968) Floral Still Life Watercolour Signed lower right 48 x 42cm
McKenzies Auctioneers
Apr. 10, 2006
KATHLEEN LETITIA (KATE) O'CONNOR (1876?-1968)
Est: $15,000 - $20,000
In the Luxemburg Gardens signed 'K L O'Connor' (lower left) oil on board 37.5 x 50 cm verso: Self Portrait signed with initials 'K L O C' (lower right) oil on board 39 x 51.2 cm
Christie's
May. 06, 2003
KATHLEEN LETITIA O'CONNOR (1876?-1980)
Est: $7,800 - $9,750
Three Working Women Resting in the Luxemberg Gardens signed with initials 'K L O'C' (lower left); titled 'Three Working Women Resting in the Luxemberg Gardens' on labels (affixed to the reverse) oil on board 22.5 x 32 cm PROVENANCE Lister Gallery, Perth Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1986.
Christie's