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Impressionist & Modern Art
3215 MAURICE UTRILLO(Paris 1883 - 1955 Dax)
Maisons roses. 1912-14.
Oil on board, laid on cradled panel.
Signed lower right: Maurice. Utrillo.
48 x 63 cm.
Provenance:
- Collection Scherz-Meister, Bern.
- Private collection Bern, by descent to the
present owner.
Exhibitions:
- Bern 1949, Maurice Utrillo, Kunsthalle
Bern, 4 June - 17 July 1949, no. 55 (with
ill.).
- Vevey 1955, Utrillo, Valadon, Modigliani,
Utter, Musée Jenisch, 2 July - 30 Sep-
tember 1955, no. 26.
- Paris 1959, Cent tableaux par Utrillo,
Galerie Charpentier, no. 61 (with the label
on the reverse).
- Geneva 1961, Maurice Utrillo, Musée
de l'Athenée, 20 July - 12 September
1961, no. 12 (with ill., with the label on the
reverse).
- Bern 1963, Maurice Utrillo, Kunstmuse-
um Bern, 19 January - 17 March 1963,
no. 51 (with ill.; with the label on the
reverse).
Literature:
- Fabris, Jean/Pailler, Cédric: L'oeuvre
complet de Maurice Utrillo, Paris 2009,
no. 288 (with ill.).
- Jardin des Arts, Perruchot, Henri (ed.),
Tallandier, May 1969, p. 33 (with ill.).
- Arti Grafiche Ricordi, 400 copolavori
d'arte del mondo, publisher Beatrice
d'Este, Milan 1965, no. 669 (with ill.).
- Pètridès, Paul: L'oeuvre complet de
Maurice Utrillo, Paris 1962, vol. II, no. 482.
(with ill.).
- Courthion, Pierre: Utrillo, publisher
Scherz Kunstbücher, Bern 1947, board
18 (with ill.).
Utrillo's creative output from the ye-
ars 1912 to 1914 is known as "période
blanche," his famous "white period'. It is
characterised by its white impasto, applied
with a palette knife and sometimes mixed
with plaster, which the painter found in
Montmartre. Neo-Impressionist influen-
ces are also visible in these works, seen for
instance in the rendering of the foliage of
the trees, which Utrillo relished scattering
wildly across the composition in numerous
small strokes, as in the present painting.
Street scenes, urban canyons, streets of
houses, alleyways and squares were the
most important themes for Maurice Utrillo.
He successfully captured his quarter with
virtuosity, not only due to his artistic talent,
but also to the fact that he himself was a
child of Montmartre. Many other signifi-
cant artists were attracted there as adults;
however, Utrillo had already spent his
formative years among the urban canyons
which he captured in his emotive pictures.
The small houses and wooden barracks of
this area were his world.
The palette of the "white period" is not yet
characterised by strong colour, but rather
is dominated by the plaster's various
white and grey shades. However, targeted
accents of colour can already be seen
in some paintings, as in the famous pink
building facades such as the "Maison rose"
on the Rue de l' Abreuvoir, which gained
worldwide fame and became a tourist
attraction.
The colour pink meant "sweet love" to
Utrillo, as he formulated it in a poem to
colour:
"If blue is divine, the enemy of evil,
Yellow is jealousy, often dandyish and
banal.
Red is hellish, spirited, even bloodthirsty,
Green is hope and pink the sweet love. "
(cited in: Pierre Courthion, Utrillo, Scherz
Kunstbücher, Bern 1949, p. 14)
The present work is an outstanding
example of his important "white period."
The painting is very well documented:
long-held in the same family collection, it
has been often published in literature and
exhibited in Switzerland and Paris at sever-
al important Utrillo exhibitions
CHF 70 000 / 90 000
(€ 62 500 / 80 360)