Roderic Montagu O’Connor (French-born Irish-American, 1907-2001), AKA Roderic Montagu, noted impressionist painter and muralist primarily known for his watercolor/gouache and oil compositions of Roman architectural ruins, Venetian scenes, portraits, landscapes, figurative works and still lifes. Roderic typically would sign his paintings with only his first and middle names as ‘Roderic Montagu’, which had led to much confusion over the years as to his real identity—with his real last name of O'Connor omitted from his signature, people have thought that his last name was simply Montagu.
Roderic was born October 29, 1907 in Clamart, France, a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris. He was the son of the well known American-Irish sculptor Andrew O’Connor (The Younger, June 7, 1874-1941) who had settled in Paris c.1903 with his wife Jessie (b. Jan. 22, 1884-), and the couple had four sons to include; Hector (Oct. 19, 1904-), Owen (Apr. 6, 1906-), Roderick and Patrick (b. May 6, 1909-1997) who was also a noted artist & sculptor.
Roderic first came to the United States in 1914 with his family and they settled in Paxton, MA. Over the course of his career, he had lived and exhibited in London, Dublin, Paris, New York, and Florida, including the Societé des Artistes annual Salon exhibition, Paris 1938, as well as other Paris Salons throughout his lifetime, and also had many portraits exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) in Dublin, Ireland. In addition, Roderic had exhibited paintings with his brother Patrick at Daniel Egan's Gallery, 38 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin, in 1932 and they had also previously exhibited together in Jack Seligman's Gallery in Paris.
Throughout his career, Roderic maintained studios in Paris, Rome, and London, and later resided with his wife Ruth Maxwell O’Connor (b. Feb. 13, 1919-) in Palm Beach, FL since 1974. He died on March 6, 2001 at the age of 93, and his brother Patrick, who had lived near him in Palm Beach, also died there in 1997. A marble bust of Roderic as a teenager was sculpted by his father in 1924 and is in the collection of the Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane (formerly the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art), Ireland.
(Written by Mark Strong of Meibohm Fine Arts, Inc. meibohmfinearts.com, 12/2013, sources: news.google.com, online digitized newspaper article, Palm Beach Daily News, “Paintings Are Figments Of Artist’s Imagination”, By Millie Wolff, Daily News Columnist, Pg. 6, Thursday, March 6, 1980; news.google.com, online digitized newspaper article, Palm Beach Daily News, “Gallery Gallery Hosts Reception For Artist”, Pg. C4, Sunday, April 26, 1987; whytes.ie, brief biographical information from auction records; ancestry.com, New York passenger Lists, 1820-1957, Source Citation: Year: 1914, Arrival: New York, New York, Microfilm Serial: T715, Microfilm Roll: 2365, Line: 9, Page Number: 20; obits.rootsweb.ancestry.com, “O'CONNOR, Roderic Montagu, 93, Paris FRA>Palm Beach FL; PBP; 2001-3-8; billspa”; ancestry.com, New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, Source Citation: Year: 1939, Arrival: New York, New York, Microfilm Serial: T715, Microfilm Roll: 6394, Line: 10, Page Number: 172; ancestry.com, New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, Year: 1923, Arrival: New York, New York, Microfilm Serial: T715, Microfilm Roll: 3279, Line: 18, Page Number: 147; ancestry.com, U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 1 [database on-line], Provo, UT, USA; ancestry.com, U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-Current [database on-line], Provo, UT, USA; ancestry.com, 1920 United States Federal Census; ancestry.com, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C., Emergency Passport Applications, Argentina thru Venezuela, 1906-1925, Collection Number: ARC Identifier 1244183 / MLR Number A1 544, Box #: 4571, Volume #: 187; ancestry.com, U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 2 [database on-line], Provo, UT, USA; flvoters.com; Wikipedia.com, “Andrew O’Connor (sculptor)”; flckr.com, “Andrew O’Connor”, photo of family posted by Dave Miller, Dec. 2, 2011; highlanes.ie, “Andrew O’Connor”.)