William Orpen was born in County Dublin, Ireland on November 27, 1878. He showed considerable artistic skill as a child and began his education early on, eventually graduating from the prestigious Slade School in London, England. At Slade he met another artist, Augustus John, who was fond of gypsy culture and kept Orpen in touch with his bohemian side. John amused and inspired Orpen and Orpen included John in several of his paintings.
Portraits and Self-Portraits
Orpen was married in 1902 — though apparently not very happily — and had three daughters. A recommendation from the expatriate American painter John Singer Sargent helped Orpen begin a career of portrait work, at which he would become quite successful.
Beyond portraiture, Orpen’s informal paintings of women show a fine appreciation for his subjects, particularly through their relaxed poses and nuanced facial expressions. Orpen was also known for his distinctive use of color and setting. Among his major influences were Edouard Manet and Diego Velazquez, with homage to Jan van Eyck seen in Orpen’s 1900 work The Mirror, the round looking-glass beyond the young woman in the chair reflecting the scene like the mirrored image in van Eyck’s famed 1434 Arnolfini Portrait.
Orpen’s self-portraits are fascinating studies, his slight, puckish figure placed in varied scenes. These self-depictions also illustrate how even though Orpen had been classically trained at Slade, he was receptive to modern tendencies in art and incorporated them selectively into his own style.
World War I
The coming of World War I brought a new realm of work for William Orpen, when he became a member of the Army Service Corps as an official War artist. Orpen went with the British troops to capture views of battle and life on the Western Front, and he also produced portraits of high-ranking military and political officials. Post-war, Orpen attended the Paris Peace Conference at Versailles to paint commemorative scenes, such as his portrait of then U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. Beyond his official duties, Orpen made independent excursions to paint one of Paris’ best chefs in the kitchen of the Hôtel Chatham.
While Orpen was knighted in 1918 for his artistic service to the British Empire during wartime, his 1919 painting To the Unknown British Soldier in France put him in a negative light among the powers-that-were. To the Unknown British Soldier in France was Orpen’s reminder of the brutality of combat and lives lost, now being ceremoniously diminished with the negotiation of the Peace Treaty at Versailles.
The painting originally featured two ravaged soldiers and a flag-draped coffin amid the splendor of the Versailles Palace. Orpen was, however, ordered to remove the soldiers and to only leave the coffin. Despite the controversy, he resumed portrait work and by 1926 had even memorialized Paris Peace Conference attendee and former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George.
Billy Orps’ Legacy
Often called Billy Orps by his friends, Orpen was an energetic soul with diverse interests. He made trips back to Ireland often and, like poet William Butler Yeats and playwright John Millington Synge, was involved in the Irish Renaissance. This movement, also known as the Celtic Revival, asserted Ireland’s right to celebrate its own rich literary and artistic heritage and not be a mere British outpost.
Orpen died in 1931 at age 52, his relatively early passing brought on by health troubles, heavy smoking, and a tendency toward alcoholism. Though the fame he had enjoyed in the early part of the 20th century had dimmed, the 21st century has brought a reappreciation for and renewed interest in his work, including a 2005 retrospective at Britian‘s Imperial War Museum.
Sources
 |
 |
 |
 |
