Painter, illustrator and printmaker, who studied at Leicester College of Art, 1931-33 and at RCA, 1934-37. He saw active war service with the RAF, 1940-46. Eric Ravilious his principal tutor at the RCA sent O’Connor to see Christopher Sandford of the Golden Cockerel Press, who gave him his first commission in 1937 while he was teaching at Birmingham School of Art. He held his first solo exhibition at the Zwemmer Gallery in 1955. He was appointed Principal of the Colchester School of Art from 1948-64 and during his time there was an active member of the Colchester Art Society which he helped establish. O’Connor also taught at the St. Martin’s School of Art. He was elected RE and a senior member of the RWS in 1974 having shown regularly since the mid-1950’s. In 1960 O’Connor designed murals for Basildon New Town, Essex. A retrospective exhibition was held one month after his death at Abbott and Holder, London.
He also showed at the RA and NEAC and is represented in the collections of the ACGB, Brighton & Hove Art Gallery, British Museum, Cambridge University, Chelmsford Art Gallery, Contemporary Art Society, GAC, Hepworth Wakefield, Herbert Art Gallery, Newport Museum and Art Gallery, Oslo Museum, Plymouth Art Gallery, RA, Ruth Borchard Collection, Southend-on-Sea Art Gallery, Tate Gallery, Towner Art Gallery, Warwick University and Zurich Museum. He should not be confused with John O’Connor the Victorian artist (1830-1889)
