Maurice Utrillo, (French, 1883-1955)
'Aux Vignobles de France' Boulevard du Montparnasse à Paris
'Aux Vignobles de France' Boulevard du Montparnasse à Paris
signed and dated 'Maurice, Utrillo, V, Février 1924' (lower left)
oil and pencil on paper laid down on canvas
50.2 x 61.2cm (19 3/4 x 24 1/8in).
Painted in February 1924
Provenance
M. Higgins Estate.
Galerie Pétridès, Paris.
Anon. sale, Christie's, London, 5 December 1978, lot 63.
Private collection, UK (acquired at the above sale).
Thence by descent to the present owner.
Literature
P. Pétridès, L'oeuvre complet de Maurice Utrillo, Tome V Supplément, Paris, 1974, no. 2714 (illustrated p. 237).
'Aux Vignobles de France' Boulevard du Montparnasse à Paris, painted in February 1924, is an exceptional work by the master of the Ecole de Paris, Maurice Utrillo. Utrillo was the painter of Montmartre and Montparnasse, the arrondissements of artists, dancers, beggars and poets. These enclaves of poverty and creativity were Utrillo's native neighbourhoods, and he has since become synonymous with the depiction of their streets in the early decades of the twentieth century.
Utrillo was born in Paris in 1883, the illegitimate son of the artist and model Suzanne Valadon. Valadon had been the muse to numerous artists, including Degas, Renoir, Laurencin, Toulouse-Lautrec and Puvis de Chavannes, as well as the lover of a number of these great names. Studying their techniques whilst modelling she became a great artist in her own right: her style adopted the strength of colour and line from Lautrec, for example. There was much talk of who the father of Maurice was, with both Degas and Renoir's names mooted. Maurice eventually took the name of the artist Miguel Utrillo y Molins, and the truth was never to be known. He was a troubled child, but as he grew up his mother encouraged him to channel his efforts into painting, and he soon became as celebrated as she was.
With no formal training, Utrillo learnt to paint under the tutelage of both Suzanne and the painter Alphonse Quizet, and by the beginning of the 1920s he had established himself as a rising star of the Paris art scene. Utrillo held his first solo exhibition at Galerie Lepoutre, Paris, in December 1919. This was followed by shows in 1922 and 1923 at Galerie Paul Guillaume and Galerie Bernheim Jeune, two of the most fêted Paris galleries of the period. Despite his success during this time Utrillo was plagued by depression and alcoholism. He was committed to institutions throughout his life, and in 1923 he began to spend stretches of time outside of Paris for the benefit of his health.
It was during one such period that 'Aux Vignobles de France' Boulevard du Montparnasse à Paris was painted. Utrillo was living in the department of Ain during the first months of 1924, but rather than paint the scenes surrounding him he often returned to his beloved Montmartre and Montparnasse. Utrillo did not only work from memory, but used postcards from the time showing landmarks such as the Lapin Agile, La Maison de Mimi Pinson, and the shop fronts of the famed Hausmannian boulevards, as seen in the present work. Here Utrillo depicts with evident joy the facade of the restaurant, Aux Vignobles de France, on the corner of rue Campagne-Première and Boulevard du Montparnasse. The artist picks out shop signs and posters, displaying clearly the colourful scripts and overlapping signage - a method he favoured clearly throughout his career, and one that is visible in works such as Rue Sevestre, Montmartre in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in Paris.
Utrillo includes not only the sign of the Brocanteur, or bric-a-brac dealer, but also the poster in the restaurant's window, an indistinct reference to a 'Club Cubiste' - a nod perhaps to Montparnasse's status as the beating heart of the Cubist movement around this time. The brasseries where Gris, Braque, Picasso, Hayden and the rest of this circle spent their days, La Coupole and Café de la Rotonde, were just along the street from here. Although a well-known figure in the art world of Paris, Utrillo would remain very much on the outside of such circles: his eye was not cynical, and did not analyse like that of the Modernists, but rather he depicted with obsessive adoration the streets of the city that taught him to paint.
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'Aux Vignobles de France' Boulevard du Montparnasse à Paris
'Aux Vignobles de France' Boulevard du Montparnasse à Paris
signed and dated 'Maurice, Utrillo, V, Février 1924' (lower left)
oil and pencil on paper laid down on canvas
50.2 x 61.2cm (19 3/4 x 24 1/8in).
Painted in February 1924
Provenance
M. Higgins Estate.
Galerie Pétridès, Paris.
Anon. sale, Christie's, London, 5 December 1978, lot 63.
Private collection, UK (acquired at the above sale).
Thence by descent to the present owner.
Literature
P. Pétridès, L'oeuvre complet de Maurice Utrillo, Tome V Supplément, Paris, 1974, no. 2714 (illustrated p. 237).
'Aux Vignobles de France' Boulevard du Montparnasse à Paris, painted in February 1924, is an exceptional work by the master of the Ecole de Paris, Maurice Utrillo. Utrillo was the painter of Montmartre and Montparnasse, the arrondissements of artists, dancers, beggars and poets. These enclaves of poverty and creativity were Utrillo's native neighbourhoods, and he has since become synonymous with the depiction of their streets in the early decades of the twentieth century.
Utrillo was born in Paris in 1883, the illegitimate son of the artist and model Suzanne Valadon. Valadon had been the muse to numerous artists, including Degas, Renoir, Laurencin, Toulouse-Lautrec and Puvis de Chavannes, as well as the lover of a number of these great names. Studying their techniques whilst modelling she became a great artist in her own right: her style adopted the strength of colour and line from Lautrec, for example. There was much talk of who the father of Maurice was, with both Degas and Renoir's names mooted. Maurice eventually took the name of the artist Miguel Utrillo y Molins, and the truth was never to be known. He was a troubled child, but as he grew up his mother encouraged him to channel his efforts into painting, and he soon became as celebrated as she was.
With no formal training, Utrillo learnt to paint under the tutelage of both Suzanne and the painter Alphonse Quizet, and by the beginning of the 1920s he had established himself as a rising star of the Paris art scene. Utrillo held his first solo exhibition at Galerie Lepoutre, Paris, in December 1919. This was followed by shows in 1922 and 1923 at Galerie Paul Guillaume and Galerie Bernheim Jeune, two of the most fêted Paris galleries of the period. Despite his success during this time Utrillo was plagued by depression and alcoholism. He was committed to institutions throughout his life, and in 1923 he began to spend stretches of time outside of Paris for the benefit of his health.
It was during one such period that 'Aux Vignobles de France' Boulevard du Montparnasse à Paris was painted. Utrillo was living in the department of Ain during the first months of 1924, but rather than paint the scenes surrounding him he often returned to his beloved Montmartre and Montparnasse. Utrillo did not only work from memory, but used postcards from the time showing landmarks such as the Lapin Agile, La Maison de Mimi Pinson, and the shop fronts of the famed Hausmannian boulevards, as seen in the present work. Here Utrillo depicts with evident joy the facade of the restaurant, Aux Vignobles de France, on the corner of rue Campagne-Première and Boulevard du Montparnasse. The artist picks out shop signs and posters, displaying clearly the colourful scripts and overlapping signage - a method he favoured clearly throughout his career, and one that is visible in works such as Rue Sevestre, Montmartre in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in Paris.
Utrillo includes not only the sign of the Brocanteur, or bric-a-brac dealer, but also the poster in the restaurant's window, an indistinct reference to a 'Club Cubiste' - a nod perhaps to Montparnasse's status as the beating heart of the Cubist movement around this time. The brasseries where Gris, Braque, Picasso, Hayden and the rest of this circle spent their days, La Coupole and Café de la Rotonde, were just along the street from here. Although a well-known figure in the art world of Paris, Utrillo would remain very much on the outside of such circles: his eye was not cynical, and did not analyse like that of the Modernists, but rather he depicted with obsessive adoration the streets of the city that taught him to paint.
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