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Impressionist & Modern Art
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3224 MAURICE UTRILLO(Paris 1883 - 1955 Dax)
Rue au Pré-Saint-Gervais. Circa 1921.
Oil on board.
Signed lower right: Maurice Utrillo V.
45 x 59 cm.
The authenticity of the work has been
confirmed by the Comité Utrillo, Paris.
Provenance:
- Private collection, Paris.
- Sotheby's New York, 12 November 1988,
lot 369.
- Kohn Bourg-en-Bresse, 13 June 1990,
lot 159.
- Private collection, Geneva.
Literature: Pétridès, Paul: L'oeuvre com-
plet de Maurice Utrillo, Paris 1962, vol. II,
no. 927 (with ill.).
The street scenes of Paris, urban canyons,
streets of houses, alleyways and squares
are the central themes of the self-taught
Maurice Utrillo, born in 1883 in Paris as
the son of the painter Suzanne Valladon.
With an unknown father, Maurice received
the name of the Spanish art critic Miguel
Utrillo, who was officially appointed ste-
pfather. As a young man, Utrillo first used
painting as therapy against alcoholism until
he discovered his great talent and passion
therein. With broad brush strokes and
thick application of paint, he captured the
angular seclusion of the Parisian suburbs
on the canvas. In order to achieve a higher
degree of realism in his paintings, Maurice
Utrillo frequently mixed sand and plaster
into his paint. The red brick walls, coloured
houses, and dominant linear features lend
his works a strong formal rigour.
Utrillo succeeded in capturing his city with
virtuosity, perhaps not only due to his arti-
stic talent, but also because he was a child
of Montmartre. Many other important
artists first moved to Paris as adults. Utrillo,
on the other hand, had already spent his
youth amongst the urban canyons, ex-
pressing them as geometrically structured
images. The infamous establishments, the
"variety show" amongst the bourgeois re-
sidential houses and small wooden shacks,
are his world.
As seen in the present work, he liked
to enliven his street scenes by painting
pedestrians. Important cornerstones in
his life were the women: his grandmother,
with whom he grew up, his wife Lucie, after
whom he named his last residence, and
probably the most important woman, his
mother. The painter's deep attachment to
his mother is expressed in his signature,
"Maurice Utrillo V.", adding a "V." to his
own name to clarify his affiliation with his
mother.
CHF 60 000 / 100 000
(€ 55 560 / 92 590)