Maurice Utrillo

Utrillo, Maurice 

Born Dec. 25, 1883, in Paris; died Nov. 5, 1955, in Dax, Landes. French landscape painter.

Utrillo grew up in an artistic milieu. He studied under his mother, the artist S. Valadon, and was influenced by C. Pissarro. Among the recurrent themes in his works are the narrow abandoned streets of Montmartre, with their blank walls, closed shutters, and sparse greenery. Utrillo worked most creatively from 1908 into the second decade of the 20th century. His works of these years, his “white period,” are rigidly and somewhat naively balanced and executed with precise draftsmanship. His brush-work is highly textured, and his subtle palette is cold and transparent, occasionally softened by warm tones. Atmospheric effects in his paintings are fresh and crisp.

Utrillo’s early works are permeated with a contemplative melancholy that evokes the bitterness and tragedy of human alienation. Notable examples include Street in Montmartre (c. 1910, Tate Gallery, London), Moulin de la Galette (1915, private collection, Paris), and Basilique Sacré Coeur (1916, private collection, New York).

In the 1920’s, Utrillo’s palette became brighter and the mood of his landscapes more cheerful, for example, Rue Saint-Rustique (1922, private collection, Milan).

REFERENCES

Utrillo: Parizh. [Album. Compiled and with a text by M. N. Prokofieva.] Moscow, 1969.
Pétridès, P. L’Oeuvre complète de Maurice Utrillo, vols. 1–2,4–5. Paris, 1959–74.