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'Orpen at War'
ORPEN AT WAR – In the chaos of the First World War, an artist witnesses the grim reality of battle. Bombarded by artillery, dodging bullets, crawling through the trenches, William Orpen paints the war. He sees the best and the worst of humanity. This is his story.
WILLIAM ORPEN, one of the official British war artists, goes to the war in high spirits, complete with a batman, an aide, a Rolls-Royce and a driver. Nothing in his privileged life prepares him for the conditions of war and he cannot capture the reality of war on canvas. His creative turning point is a self-portrait titled Ready to Start and from then his output is prolific – officers, Tommies, German prisoners, trenches “full of rats and lice, stinking baths of mud, and water that goes as high as a man’s waist”. He misses home and relives meeting his wife GRACE while on holiday in Vattetot with a group of artists and he recalls happy times with his mistress EVELYN ST GEORGE. As the ravages of war wear him down he turns to alcohol.
Delicate from childhood he is often unwell with fevers – a gnashed leg leads to blood poisoning and he ends up in hospital where he meets young volunteer nurse YVONNE AUPICQ from Lille. He is smitten and she succumbs to his charms. He submits a scantily clad painting of her titled The Spy to the assessor for the War Artists Scheme. Realising it was an impetuous gesture and concerned about the questions it might raise, he paints another of her, attired modestly titled The Refugee. The portraits raise questions and he is summonsed to a meeting in London at the War Office. He never discloses what happened behind those closed door, but was relieved at his narrow escape from being recalled from France or, even worse, a court martial.
When he is commissioned to paint the Paris Peace Conference. He settles in Paris taking rooms in the Majestic Hotel, studio space in the Astoria and an apartment for Yvonne and his driver. The third painting is the epic To the Unknown British Soldier in France, hailed by some as “symbolic”; by more as a “blasphemous disgrace”. Evelyn’s suggestion of “painting over” and presenting the painting to Lord Haig is the solution that saves his reputation. Depressed at the ending of the war, he is consumed by its futility and what he considers the fighting men’s betrayal by the politicians. He makes a generous settlement on Yvonne, and divides his time between Paris and London where he resumes his successful career of portrait painting. Alienated from his family and Evelyn, he dies in 1931 of alcohol related illnesses.
WILLIAM ORPEN, one of the official British war artists, goes to the war in high spirits, complete with a batman, an aide, a Rolls-Royce and a driver. Nothing in his privileged life prepares him for the conditions of war and he cannot capture the reality of war on canvas. His creative turning point is a self-portrait titled Ready to Start and from then his output is prolific – officers, Tommies, German prisoners, trenches “full of rats and lice, stinking baths of mud, and water that goes as high as a man’s waist”. He misses home and relives meeting his wife GRACE while on holiday in Vattetot with a group of artists and he recalls happy times with his mistress EVELYN ST GEORGE. As the ravages of war wear him down he turns to alcohol.
Delicate from childhood he is often unwell with fevers – a gnashed leg leads to blood poisoning and he ends up in hospital where he meets young volunteer nurse YVONNE AUPICQ from Lille. He is smitten and she succumbs to his charms. He submits a scantily clad painting of her titled The Spy to the assessor for the War Artists Scheme. Realising it was an impetuous gesture and concerned about the questions it might raise, he paints another of her, attired modestly titled The Refugee. The portraits raise questions and he is summonsed to a meeting in London at the War Office. He never discloses what happened behind those closed door, but was relieved at his narrow escape from being recalled from France or, even worse, a court martial.
When he is commissioned to paint the Paris Peace Conference. He settles in Paris taking rooms in the Majestic Hotel, studio space in the Astoria and an apartment for Yvonne and his driver. The third painting is the epic To the Unknown British Soldier in France, hailed by some as “symbolic”; by more as a “blasphemous disgrace”. Evelyn’s suggestion of “painting over” and presenting the painting to Lord Haig is the solution that saves his reputation. Depressed at the ending of the war, he is consumed by its futility and what he considers the fighting men’s betrayal by the politicians. He makes a generous settlement on Yvonne, and divides his time between Paris and London where he resumes his successful career of portrait painting. Alienated from his family and Evelyn, he dies in 1931 of alcohol related illnesses.
282 pages, Paperback
First published September 5, 2022
About the author
Patricia O'Reilly
10 books15 followers'Orpen at War' published by The Liffey Press, tells of Irish artist William Orpen (1878-1931) at the Somme as an official British war artist during WW1. Bombarded by artillery, dodging bullets, crawling through filthy trenches, he witnesses the grim reality of conflict as he paints the war.
The First Rose of Tralee published by Poolbeg.. This story is the inspiration for the annual Rose of Tralee International Festival, held each August.It tells of servant girl, Mary O'Connor (182?-1845) and her love affair with the master of the big house, set against the backdrop of Daniel O'Connell's 1800 Repeal of the Union between Ireland and Britain.
Patricia is an international author of 13 books, both fiction and non-fiction. When she was a child she dreamed of having a book for sale in a bookshop with her name on its cover. And like the best of dreams, it came to pass.
In her previous book 'The Interview', she explores the relationship between Eileen Gray and Bruce Chatwin, and why this interview was not published. 'A Type of Beauty, the story of Kathleen Newton (1854-1882)' was long-listed for Historical Society Novel award 2013 and 'Felicity's Wedding' a book club choice in Germany. Other works of fiction are 'Time & Destiny' and 'Once upon a Summer'.
Her non-fiction books are: Writing for Success; Working Mothers; Earning your Living from Home; Writing for the Market and Dying with Love. Her short stories are published in magazines and anthologies.
She teaches writing in UCD (University College Dublin), The Irish Writers Centre and elsewhere.
She has come the route of freelance journalism writing for The Irish Times, Independent Group, Daily Irish Mail, Image and The Gloss magazines, as well as English and American publications. Her radio work for RTE Radio 1, Lyric FM and the BBC includes documentaries, plays, short stories and Sunday Miscellany pieces.
Amazon - Author Page
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 18, 2022
This book was unputdownable - a very difficult feat with a book that deals with such a serious subject that clearly required some heavy research. As the writer herself has not lived through any nearby war situations I read this with awe. She managed to bring it all together with a light touch, while still getting across the horrors witnessed by artist Orpen during WW1. Some examples that I’ll find hard to forget, the shock of shells exploding nearby, a young soldier collecting pieces of his friend, the contrast between the day to day lives of the officer class and the ordinary soldiers – parallel lives, but such different experiences. The cost of war on so many, expertly portrayed in this book, has one wondering why we still have them.
I’ve read many novels set during wars, but this one gave a whole different perspective when seen through the eyes of a war appointed artist.
The descriptions of French villages were beautifully atmospheric, with the ordinary people trying to get on with their lives, not knowing what was coming down the road at them.
Orpen, himself, didn’t endear himself to me. He disliked the term ‘womaniser’, but I wonder how else he would describe himself? His attitude to women was appalling, even given the era. How he placed his French mistress Yvonne in such danger, through his flippancy, without a thought for the possible consequences for her – for a seemingly intelligent man, his behaviour was incredibly stupid. Blinded by his own ego, I daresay. No doubt he, himself, might blame it on the stresses of war, but his shenanigans started long before he was sent to Europe. Such an arrogant man - but what a great book.
I’ve read many novels set during wars, but this one gave a whole different perspective when seen through the eyes of a war appointed artist.
The descriptions of French villages were beautifully atmospheric, with the ordinary people trying to get on with their lives, not knowing what was coming down the road at them.
Orpen, himself, didn’t endear himself to me. He disliked the term ‘womaniser’, but I wonder how else he would describe himself? His attitude to women was appalling, even given the era. How he placed his French mistress Yvonne in such danger, through his flippancy, without a thought for the possible consequences for her – for a seemingly intelligent man, his behaviour was incredibly stupid. Blinded by his own ego, I daresay. No doubt he, himself, might blame it on the stresses of war, but his shenanigans started long before he was sent to Europe. Such an arrogant man - but what a great book.
September 22, 2022
A book to treasure
I was thrilled to receive an Advance Review Copy of Patricia O’Reilly’s fictionalised biography of the Irish painter William Orpen.
For me, Orpen’s painting of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 was one of the iconic images of the 20th century. After the ‘war to end all wars’ he depicted the world leaders with their backs turned to the fractured reflections of the Hall of Mirrors, staring into an unknown future.
As a Lieutenant in the British Army, ‘Little Orps’ was granted his request in 1917 to be sent to the Western front to paint. He saw it at first as a brave adventure. Although he was a society painter, expected to produce portraits of the top brass, Orpen sought out battlefield horrors and the squalor and terror of the trenches, producing image after image of injured and exhausted soldiers.
Patricia O’Reilly depicts Orpen as an artist above all else, striving for self-expression in his paintings even when his portraits of his mistress brought him censure from the military. She brings him to life as a complex character: an unfaithful husband whose mental and physical health declined in the face of the lunacy and despair of WW1, and whose personal life failed as he suffered hideous flashbacks and became dependent on alcohol. The haunting image ‘To the Unknown British Soldier in France’, the last of Orpen’s war paintings, has its own fascinating story.
I’m now pre-ordering the book as a hard copy: this is going to be one to treasure, and indeed to gift to art-loving friends, with its vivid narrative illustrated with Orpen’s paintings.
April 6, 2023
From the Drawing Room to the Front Line of World War1
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 4 April 2023
Orpen at War is a fascinating story about one man’s war and how he captured its brutality, humanity, pathos and courage with brush strokes on canvas as World War 1 raged around him.
In this engaging and adeptly fictionalised study of his life and times, the author, Patricia O’Reilly begins her story in 1917 when William Orpen was appointed as the official war artist to reflect to the public what was happening to the British troops in France, preferably, according to his superiors, ‘without the gore.’ But from the beginning, Orpen was determined to expose what he saw, which resulted in a collection of paintings that explored the courage of soldiers, their humour and camaraderie, the tedium of waiting for the horrors to begin, the exhaustion and the energy that, somehow, kept these young men on the move. He left us with a record that is authentic and powerful, and Orpen at War contains many reproductions of his most famous paintings.
Patricia O’Reilly skilfully and successfully draws together the many strands of his life. He was already renowned as a landscape and portrait artist when he left the drawing rooms of elite society to go to war and the author presents us with a complex personality; a man who was equally at home in the filth and gore of battle as he was in the company of beautiful women whom he immortalised in his sensuous and provocative portraits.
Orpen at War, with its combination of fine writing and illustrations, is a beautifully produced book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 4 April 2023
Orpen at War is a fascinating story about one man’s war and how he captured its brutality, humanity, pathos and courage with brush strokes on canvas as World War 1 raged around him.
In this engaging and adeptly fictionalised study of his life and times, the author, Patricia O’Reilly begins her story in 1917 when William Orpen was appointed as the official war artist to reflect to the public what was happening to the British troops in France, preferably, according to his superiors, ‘without the gore.’ But from the beginning, Orpen was determined to expose what he saw, which resulted in a collection of paintings that explored the courage of soldiers, their humour and camaraderie, the tedium of waiting for the horrors to begin, the exhaustion and the energy that, somehow, kept these young men on the move. He left us with a record that is authentic and powerful, and Orpen at War contains many reproductions of his most famous paintings.
Patricia O’Reilly skilfully and successfully draws together the many strands of his life. He was already renowned as a landscape and portrait artist when he left the drawing rooms of elite society to go to war and the author presents us with a complex personality; a man who was equally at home in the filth and gore of battle as he was in the company of beautiful women whom he immortalised in his sensuous and provocative portraits.
Orpen at War, with its combination of fine writing and illustrations, is a beautifully produced book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.
January 27, 2023
A fascinating story of an official British war painter during WWI. What more can you ask for? War - sex - love - politics. Orpen has all the ingredients.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews