Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Conder, Charles
CONDER, CHARLES (1868–1909), artist, born in London in 1868, was son of James Conder, a civil engineer, and cousin of Claude Reignier Conder [q. v. Suppl. II]. He was a direct descendant in the female line of the sculptor, Roubiliac. His mother died shortly after his birth, and in infancy he was taken to India by his father, who held an engineering appointment there. Brought back at nine to England for schooling, he was educated at a private school at Eastbourne. At sixteen he was sent to Sydney, New South Wales, where he entered the lands department of the colonial civil service with a view to the profession of a trigonometrical land surveyor. He disliked the work and soon abandoned it. His predilection was for art, and from an early age he drew and painted from nature. He obtained what art education he could by drawing from the life at night classes in Sydney, by studying at the National Gallery, Melbourne, and by painting in the country with other Australian artists. During August 1889, he, with Arthur Streeton and Tom Roberts, contributed to a small exhibition in Melbourne, called ‘Sketches and Impressions.’ Next year, 1890, he showed at the Society of Victorian Artists several paintings, most of which were realistic, but among them an imaginative work, ‘The Hot Wind,’ which attracted notice; it showed a nude female figure in the foreground of a sun-baked landscape, vigorously blowing into flame the ashes of a fire. Another of his pictures at this exhibition, ‘Departure of the ss. Orient,’ was purchased for the National Gallery, Sydney. An uncle thereupon provided the artist with the means of studying painting, and in 1890 Conder returned to England.
Proceeding to Paris, he worked intermittently in Cormon's studio. Always impatient of school routine, he followed his own lines, and studied the work of artists around him. The art of Anquetin especially influenced him, and he derived something from Toulouse Lautrec and perhaps from Daumier. In March 1891 Conder and Mr. William Rothenstein had an exhibition together at the gallery of a Paris dealer called Thomas, 43 Boulevard Malesherbes; both artists' work was reproduced in ‘L'Art français.’ In 1896 an exhibition of Conder's work at the gallery of Bing, another Paris dealer, consisted chiefly of panels on silk for a boudoir and a few designs for fans, which inaugurated his most original contributions to art. His first design for a fan was in oils on a wooden panel, executed about 1895. Elected an associate member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1893, he quickly won a reputation by the originality and charm of the work which he exhibited at the Société's salon.
Marrying and settling at 91 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, in 1901, he there did his finest work, which he exhibited chiefly at the New English Art Club and the International Society of Painters; at the same time holding single exhibitions at the Carfax, at Van Wisselinghs, and the Leicester Galleries. Early in 1907 he contracted brain disease, of which he died on 9 Feb. 1909 at the Virginia Water Asylum. He was buried at the cemetery there. His widow, Stella Maris Bedford, a Canadian, whom he met in Paris, died on 18 April 1912.
Conder drew entirely from memory, rarely from life. He was quite careless about materials, brushes, or colours, and his work seemed to develop without method or scheme. Of a few lithographs, which he designed at night, the best are six dated 1899, of which four are scenes from Balzac and two are fanciful subjects. A single etching by Conder is known, a dry point, of which Mr. Rothenstein owns a print. Conder painted a good deal in oils, his subjects being chiefly landscapes more or less romantically treated, seashore scenes, modern watering places with gaily dressed crowds, and an occasional portrait, in a decorative style. But Conder's most characteristic works are the dainty water-colour drawings which date between 1895 and 1905, painted after a fashion of his own on panels of white silk, many shaped for fans. The delicate tones of their colour agree perfectly with the frail texture of the material. The subjects are dreamlike fancies which, while they are far removed from reality, reflect modern life. The colour and general character of his landscape backgrounds were derived entirely from the scenery at Chartamelle on the Seine, but the scenery of Normandy also influenced his designs. Conder's art has been compared with that of Watteau, but it is never constructive like that of the French master, and is usually more elusive in subject. Conder exerted much influence on contemporary art.
Conder painted a fine head of himself which belongs to Mr. Rothenstein, who also painted portraits of the artist.