Lot n° 26
Estimation :
30000 - 40000
EUR
Maurice UTRILLO (1883-1955) - Lot 26
Maurice UTRILLO (1883-1955)
"Montmartre"; View of Mont-Cenis street, circa 1940-1942.
Oil on panel.
27 x 22 cm.
Signed lower right, titled lower left.
Provenance:
- Private collection, Israel,
- Private collection, Hong Kong,
- Private collection, France.
Our view of the Rue du Mont-Cenis is a little gem from Utrillo's "colourful period", illustrating one of his favourite views of his native Montmartre, which has now disappeared.
As early as 1912, the painter (fig.1.), housed by the owner of a small restaurant colloquially called Le casse-croûte, painted this street, a long cardinal road, which he could see from his bedroom window. He painted it more than 70 times, in all seasons, and from about ten different points of view.
In our painting, the point of view adopted, facing north, offers the view, on the right, of the two famous houses of Mimi Pinson (fig.2), a mythical little seamstress who became the poetic archetype of the little Montmartre woman, and, further on, that of the composer Berlioz. This section of the rue du Mont-Cenis, at the intersection with rue Saint Vincent, and its harmonious symphony of old houses will be shattered at the end of the 1920s, when developers will build contemporary apartment buildings (fig.3).
This same viewpoint, within a few metres, is found in two other works in private collections.
One, probably created on a stormy spring day, by this atmosphere saturated with shades of grey, recalls the artist's first period or "white period", from 1912 to 1914 (fig.4). Nevertheless, several touches of bright greens can be seen in the trees, the alleyway is empty of human presence. The other, dated 1923, was probably made at the end of the summer: the atmosphere is warmer and more lively, the vegetation is still dense, chromium green, only a few touches of orange suggest the beginning of leaf fall (fig.5).
For our view, with the effects of material in perfect condition, the palette used displays great vivacity and c
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