Maurice Utrillo (1883 - 1955) - Lot 114

Lot 114
Go to lot
Estimation :
30000 - 50000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 46 768EUR
Maurice Utrillo (1883 - 1955) - Lot 114
Maurice Utrillo (1883 - 1955) Rue de l'Abreuvoir in Montmartre, circa 1903-1904 Oil on canvas Signed lower center 61 x 49,7 cm Provenance: Acquired by the current owner's father, then passed down through descendants since in the same family. The authenticity of this painting has been confirmed by the Utrillo-Valadon committee and a certificate of authenticity from the Utrillo-Valadon committee can be obtained. The rediscovery of a rare early Maurice Utrillo painting in a French Collection Maurice Utrillo was born on December 26, 1883 in a miserable garret in Montmartre and it was a friend of his mother, Suzanne Valadon, a certain Miguel Utrilo y Molins, who recognized the child in 1891, who would henceforth bear his name. At a very young age, he gave in to drink and as his health weakened, he was interned. During the summer of 1901, after a detoxification treatment, his mother introduced him to painting: a vocation was born. "If there was an academy of streets and roads, Utrillo would have the right to the first chair" said his friend Mac Orlan. It is indeed in the streets and particularly in those of Montmartre that he draws his inspiration. Neither portraits, nor rural scenes, nor still lifes, only streets and buildings pierced by windows, dark rectangles like so many wounds on the surface of buildings. Windows that reveal better than anything else the desperate solitude that was the artist's, locked in his tragedy. When Maurice Utrillo painted this canvas, he was about 20 years old. The young painter was just starting out and saw painting as an outlet. This painting shows the rue de l'Abreuvoir in Montmartre around 1903/1904, and one can see the bell tower and the dome of the Sacré Coeur. A few silhouettes cross the landscape, seen from behind, moving away in silence. In his first paintings, color spreads with enthusiasm, we find yellow, vermilion, madder pink and zinc white, as in this canvas in which the tender green of the trees and the blue of the sky punctuated with light clouds are added. This first period precedes the artist's famous white period from 1908 to 1914 when Utrillo lightened his palette by using plaster mixed with glue. This painting was recently rediscovered in a private collection in Paris, in its original state. It had been acquired by the current owner's father in the mid-twentieth century and had not reappeared on the market since. The authenticity of this painting has been confirmed by the Utrillo-Valadon Committee. The latter will be able to send a certificate of authenticity to the buyer.
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue