Lotto 3215 - A183 Impressionismo e arte moderna - venerdì, 08. dicembre 2017, 16h00
MAURICE UTRILLO
- 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 September 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, Kunstmuseum 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 years 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 influences 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 significant 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 several important Utrillo exhibitions
CHF 70 000 / 90 000 | (€ 72 160 / 92 780)
Venduto per CHF 84 500 (incl. premio dell'acquirente)
Non si assume alcuna responsabilità per la correttezza di queste informazioni.