Great Masters

The son of Suzanne Valadon and of an unknown father, Maurice Utrillo was born in Montmartre on December 26th 1883. Working as a model for the artists Puvis de Chavannes, Renoir and Toulouse-Lautrec, Suzanne Valadon rapidly neglected her son and devoted herself to painting instead.

The young Maurice was left in the care of his grand-mother but coping with his loneliness and the absence of his mother he soon became addicted to drink. Already, at the age of 21 he suffered the first symptoms of a deep mental disorder. From then on, fits of explosive anger, scandals and internments in lunatic asylums became his common lot during many years.

Luckily, such mental illness resulted in an urge to paint. Following the advice of a doctor, who was also a close friend, Suzanne Valadon encouraged her son to start up a career thinking that painting could prove to be a useful therapy for him. Nevertheless, she soon understood that he was endowed with a real talent.

As early as 1926, Maurice Utrillo became famous and his works were much in demand by collectors. He married Lucie Pauwels in 1935 and settled in the Paris suburb of Le Vésinet where he led a peaceful life working daily until his death on November 5th 1955.

UTRILLO, HIS CAREER...

Utrillo never adhered to the major artistic currents , the "Fauvist", "Cubist" or "Post-Impressionist" movements, which emerged during this century. Everything he wanted to signify was told in the scenes he painted according to his own way.

1883 - December 26th ,birth of Maurice Valadon in a house 8, rue du Poteau, 18th District of Paris, son of an unknown father and of Marie Clémentine Valadon (1865 - 1938) called "Suzanne".

1891 - January 27th, Miguel Utrillo y Morlius, a journalist, officially acknowledged Maurice as his son who thus bore the name of Maurice Utrillo. 1896: Suzanne Valadon married Paul Mousis, a tradesman. Utrillo was 12 and the couple settled in Paris, rue Cortot, in the heart of Montmartre.

1900 - Maurice Utrillo gave up his studies.He went on to work for brief periods as an employee in some banks and shops. 1904: Maurice was admitted in the Saint-Anne mental hospital in Paris from January 11th until May 14th. He then took up painting for his own pleasure.

1905 - Paul Mousis bought a piece of land in Montmagny and had a house built there to settle with Suzanne Valadon, her son and his maternal grand-mother. Utrillo then regularly painted the landscapes of Montmagny and the banks of the river Seine.

1908 - Under the influence of Sisley and Pissaro, his use of colours was still restricted. At that time he incorporated a mixture of lime and cement which he added to glue and sand in the painting substance he used.

1910 - Suzanne Valadon divorced Paul Mousis and went on to live with André Utter who was twenty years younger than her. Francis Jourdain, on the advice of Dr Elie Faure, bought two paintings from Maurice. The Kapferer brothers and Paul Gallimard also acquired some of his works. From that date Utrillo's paintings where illuminated with the white color which became typical of the production of the pre-war years. Working Montmartre and in the vicinity of Paris he developed a full range of subtle tones to seize the atmosphere and trueness of what the scenes he captured. This was Utrillo great "White period".

1912 - Maurice had his first stay in the medical home of Dr Revertégat in Sannois.Being under close surveillance , he painted the streets and the mill of that town. Following an encouraging treatment he went on to take a rest in the Ouessant island ( in Brittany) accompanied by his mother and André Utter.

1913 - Utrillo travelled to Corsica with André Utter and Suzanne Valadon.
At the end of that year he was once again sent to a mental hospital.

1914 - Utrillo had to make another stay in the medical home of Dr Revertégat. he remained there during the first six month. However he produced more than 150 paintings depicting Sannois and its surroundings. On March 2nd, his works sold tremendously well during the "Peau de l'Ours" sale in the Hôtel Drouot auction rooms.

1915 - Once again, Utrillo had to receive treatment in the mental hospitals of Villejuif, Aulnay-sous-Bois and Saint-Anne. As a result his style was much affected . He came to give more structure to his works. His lines became dryer, deeper and stronger and he resorted to the use of more vivid colours to enliven his paintings.

1922 - His stays in mental homes and the exhibitions of his works became more frequent.

1925 - Utrillo produced in Paris a decor for the Russian ballets of Serge Diaghilev. He lived most of the time in the Saint-Bernard Château in the Ain department.
He used to paint from memory or after postal cards or photographies and his reputation grew internationally.

1935 - Maurice Utrillo married Lucie Pauwels on April 8th. The couple settled in Angoulême.

1937 - Paul Pétridès became his exclusive agent and ensured his world-wide reputation.

1938 - Suzanne valadon died on April 7th. Deeply affected, Maurice Utrillo did not find the strength to attend her burial. A few weeks later he settled with his wife in a house in Le Vésinet. Under the good care of his "good Lucie", Utrillo went back to work.

Utrillo's first period was marked by a thick layer of painter and a sobriety in the use of colours in his works.

This period was that of Montmagny (1904 - 1910). The young Utrillo was clearly influenced by the Impressionist masters but worked in his own way, the main difference being that the Impressionists saw things in relation to the light they were perceiving while Utrillo viewed them through their shape and substance.

Utrillo's second period was dubbed the "White Period" (1910 - 1914) whereas white was the basis of his palette. He worked by putting a dense and creamy layer of paint to which he added plaster, lime and sand on his canvas as he liked the texture of walls and the effect of light on them."He daringly made the white colour dominate all others as it integrated and exalted them without being under their domination, the white being also the most difficult colour to use because it reveals itself as an absence"

EXTRACTS FROM 'S JOURNAL

Up here, on the heights of Sannois' hill, the view is vast and deep within a radius of more than 15 miles but by setting one's eyes over the village one can see a bourgeois house unspoiled by any advertising sign .

It's towards this place, that tired by men and their troubles and somewhat exhausted by drink abuses so common in this charming area of Montmartre, during this calm, quiet and merciful stay that I directed my steps during this blossoming spring of 1912. This medical house run by an elite doctor excluded all mental diseases (even incurable lunatics), epileptics , morphiomaniacs, madmen and other infirmities resulting from men's debaucheries that affect the sad humanity. (...)

During his third period, the longest, (1922 - 1955), Utrillo enlivened his colours.

This was the "coloured" period during which his works were considered as simplified and conventional as a result of Utrillo's mental weakening and of a heavy and repetitive production.

During so many years marked by stays in mental hospitals and nursing homes, by scandals and then by old age rather glorious and golden, Maurice Utrillo produced more than 5000 paintings of which half of them can be considered as true masterpieces. More than 300 works are dispersed in museum around the world (some 100 in France, another 100 in the United States and as many throughout the rest of Europe). The Montmagny, the White and Coloured periods are all shown in the museum and this presentation enables visitors to have a complete visison of the pictural evolution of Utrillo (from 1908 to 1944) whereas most paintings produced during these years are being dispersed abroad among private collectors.

Of the white period, one should stop religiously before the marvellous «Moulin de la Galette» and of the coloured period , «Le Jardin d'Utrillo au Vésinet» is probably the best painting to look at though visitors must be their own free judges...

On the ground floor, visitors are being offered the viewing of a video programme devoted to Utrillo's career and lasting about 40 minutes.

Downstairs, Utrillo's studio has been rebuilt with an impressive black and whitephotography pinned on the back wall and aimed at plunging visitors in his intimate world. Many of his personal belongings (his piano and easel, his last palettes, various tools, plaster busts and canvasses) are in the room as if time had been suspended. In the studio, two paintings by Suzanne Valadon, his mother, are exhibited

On the same floor visitors will discover a room where are exhibited works by great masters such as Odilon Redon, Edouard Vuillard, Armand Guillaumin, Raoul Dufy and others.

The visit ends with an exhibition of manuscripts, letters, photographs and memorabilia relating to Utrillo.

Visitors who wish to obtain additional information on Utrillo and Suzanne Valadon can ask for an appointment with the Maurice Utrillo Association situated on the second floor of the same building. The association has thousands of documents, photographs and books, including more than 2,000 sales catalogues and an impressive collection of postal cards at their disposal.

The association was founded by Jean Fabris, the general legatee of Lucie Utrillo-Valore (Utrillo's widow) and owner of the moral rights regarding the painter's works. Its aim is to promote and protect these.

Organising international exhibitions, the Maurice Utrillo Association is always interested in works by Utrillo, Suzanne Valadon and other painters of the School of Paris so as to include them in new exhibitions.

«A daily bout of drunkenness, a masterpiece a day», if Tabarant's comment, talking of Utrillo, is true then he had a severe one the day he painted this «Moulin de la Galette» ! His unconventional art however guided by disconcerting logic, sways away from what would be expected from such an aggressive character. He simplified his palette to the utmost with black and white colours enriched with pink and to which he added vermilion, madder lacquer, transparent green and ultramarine blue astonishingly subtle, an whole range of blue colours with intense renderings. This gave nacreous, clear and ventilated skies in the immensity of a minute perspective. As a result, the front view of a building often recalls a simple elevation instead of a general view because Utrillo preferred an oblique view enabling a judicious presentation, the showing of several fronts, constituting in fact a true panoramic flight over a scene. It was such mastering of the construction of a painting with maximum sobriety in the drawing and in the use of colours that made this «Moulin de la Galette» a marvellous masterpiece.

With this gouache shown hereupon it's the «Utrillo» of Montmartre who projects the crowd before his door and explains himself .

He has just had this house built on a piece of land of this copsy and bushy hillside dotted with dirty and fragile wood-cabins which was the realm of tramps, ragmen and Blackguards. In 1910, the piercing of avenue Junot caused the disappearance of this dangerous zone of Montmartre as well as the last Gallo-Roman vestiges, the mill of "La Poivrière" erected north of the present "Moulin de la Galette" under king Louis - Philippe. The avenue was also pierced over the remnants of another mill which had disappeared during the 1870 war.
At that time, Utrillo knows all the aspects of this scene which he has immortalized in his work:

«The Maquis and Moulin de la Galette».

The Bernheim brothers, two art dealers with whom he was under contract convinced him to build this house. It's just after its completion that he has done this gouache dated March 1927.

The satyrical poem accompanying this work is not without interest : its reflects the spirits of a man who was always mentally perturbed and the drawing expresses this frenzy of persecution that undermined him.

He refers to the passers-by who are invading Montmartre on Sundays and disturb his loneliness.

«All this world is producing so many gossips. Alas, these are nothing but cheap comments». As a matter of fact, Suzanne Valadon would heard so many bad comments and gossips when her son's conduct would become unpleasant as a result of his drunkenness. Artists, known as being head over ears in debt were looked upon impudently by thousands of well-off, idle or common people who would laugh at them. In this work one can see people raising a hand towards this «Utrillo» who can be guessed in front of the opened window on the first floor of the house.

«He is mad , would say a shameless chick at the arm of a dissolute man showing the window and pointing a stupid forefinger on her forehead. Now I am addicted to drink and am shouting non dingo». How many times would he protest that way saying : «I am not mad but simply an drunkard !»

1883 - Birth of Maurice Utrillo, son of Marie-Clémentine Valadon called «Suzanne» and of an unknown father in a house situated at 8, rue du Poteau, in the 18th district of Paris on December 26th. It seemed that Maurice was born on Christmas day but his birth was only registered the next day.

1886 - Birth of André Utter on March 22nd in his parents' flat situated 43, rue Ordener in the 18th district of Paris.

1891- Miguel Utrillo y Morlius, a journalist living at 57, Bld de Clichy, recognised Maurice Valadon as his son in a document signed at the town hall of the 9th district of Paris. 1896-Maurice Utrillo obtained his primary studies certificate in Aubervilliers, North of Paris. he was living at that time with his maternal grand-mother in nearby Pierrefitte.

1896 - Marie-Clémentine Valadon, a painter by profession, married on August 5th Paul Georges Mousis, a tradesman born on December 21st 1863. Maurice Utrillo was then aged 12.

1896 - Maurice Utrillo was admitted to the lycée (college) Rollin in September.

1900 - Maurice Utrillo gave up his studies.

1904 -Maurice Utrillo was sent on January 11th to the Sainte-Anne lunatic asylum. On leaving the asylum on May 14th he took an interest in painting.

1904 - First period ( called the Montmagny Period). Utrillo painted the river banks and scenes in Montmagny ( he was living in nearby Pierrefitte) in particular.

1908 - Under the influence of Impressionist painters, notably Sisley and Pissarro, Utrillo mixed his colours with lime and cement grinding his pigments and using primary colours such as black, zinc white, yellow ochre and ultramarine blue added to madder lacquer.

1910 - The White period. Suzanne Valadon divorced Paul Mousis. Francis Jourdan, on the advice of Dr Elie Faure, bought two paintings from Utrillo. In turn, the Kapferer brothers and Paul Gallimard bought some of his works.

1912 - At his request, Utrillo stayed in the clinic of Dr Revertégat in Sannois. Following a positive treatment he went to take a rest in the island of Ouessant, in Brittany, with his mother, André Utter, his future step-father, and a friend of the family, Richemond Chaudois, who was a chemical researcher. During this stay, Utrillo painted at least 12 large-size landscapes as well as two small works on cardboard which the dealer Louis Libaude took on his return at the end of October.

1913 - Once again, Utrillo resorted to a voluntary stay of several months in Dr Revertégat's clinic. He then went to Malespina, in Corsica, with Suzanne Valadon and André Utter. There, he produced some 20 large paintings. The colours he used in his works were probably the warmest and richest and prefigured what was called his « Coloured Period ».

1914 - First auction sale in the Hôtel Drouot on March 2nd 1997. Utrillo's works sold tremendously well. On September 1st , Suzanne Valadon married André Utter in the town hall of the 18th district of Paris. Following the outbreak of the First World War, André Utter enlisted in the army. Suzanne Valadon followed him and found a place where to stay not far from the front line. Meanwhile, Utrillo was lodging with Mr Gay who was running a café at 33, rue du Mont-Cenis. In the space of several weeks he produced many masterpieces and was at the height of his White Period. On december 7th, he had to go the Sainte-Anne lunatic asylum once again and then to the asylum of Villejuif, East of Paris.

1919 - The sale of the Eugène Descaves collection was held on March 28th in Drouot. The latter was a friend of the art critic Gustave Coquiot who advised him to buy five top quality paintings which sold well subsequently. Utrillo went voluntarily to the Picpus asylum run by Dr Revault d'Alonnes and which he left on September 21st. From December 5 to 24, the Galerie Lepoutre in Paris held an exhibition of Utrillo's important works.

1921- Utrillo left the Ivry asylum on August 25th but he was barred from living in Montmartre. His family sent him to the Beaujolais region where he underwent a cure at a winegrower's place. André Utter, with the money earned from the sale of Utrillo's paintings bought in his name the Saint-Bernard château in the Ain region.(Coloured period).

1921- Francis Carco published in the Nouvelle Revue Française a study on Utrillo illustrated with 27 paintings and drawings. This was the first ever book devoted to Utrillo.

1922 - The years spent in many asylums annihilated his abilities. During his Coloured period, Utrillo went on to flirt with hyperrealism where stricter lines suggested the painter's attempts to toy with the idea of structuring his works. However, only a few paintings reflected such temptation.

1925 - Utrillo produced the decors of Serge Diaghilev's Russian Ballets in October.

1928 - Utrillo was awarded the Legion of Honour on August 1st.

1933 - Death of Robert Pauwels at his home, 80, rue de la Pompe in Paris.

1935 - Utrillo married Lucie Pauwels on April 8th. A religious wedding took place on April 29th in Angoulème where the couple stayed during two years. Suzanne Valadon, who was separated from André Utter ,was living in a house bought by her son in avenue Junot in Montmartre. Meanwhile, André Utter was staying in the studio situated in rue Cortot.

1937 - Maurice Utrillo signed his first contract with Paul Petridès who was to become his exclusive agent.

1938 - Suzanne Valadon died on April 7th. Maurice Utrillo and his wife Lucie, called Valore, were living at that time in the Paris suburb of Le Vésinet.

1939 - While the Germans were invading Northern France, Utrillo went to settle in Angoulème with his wife.

1940 - Utrillo returned to Le Vésinet to live in his villa nicknamed «La Bonne Lucie», rue des Bouleaux.

1955 - Utrillo was awarded the town of Paris Gold medal on October 17th and appeared in the film «Si Paris m'était conté» directed by Sacha Guitry.