Maurice Utrillo (1883-1955) French, Print. Signed bottom right. Depicts "Le Lapin Agile," a famous bar/cabaret in Montmartre, Paris frequented by Picasso and other artists at the beginning of the 20th Century.

Overall size: 21 X 17 in.

Sight size: 12 1/2 X 10 in.

#1593 .

Born in Paris, France in 1883 as Maurice Valadon, Maurice Utrillo was the son of teenage model Marie-Clementine Valade, who painted under the name Suzanne Valadon. Unsure of the father, Valadon reportedly took him to some of her male acquaintances, including Renoir, who all denied parentage, and eventually renamed him after the Spanish painter Miguel Utrillo. By the age of 21, Utrillo had developed mental instability that would recur throughout his life. To divert him from his troubles, his mother encouraged him to paint. Between 1903 and 1904 he produced a staggering 150 paintings in the countryside of Montmagny, crediting the plein air style of painting with improving his health. When he returned to the city and began to paint street scenes, his landscapes were considered unique, and sold well. From 1909 until 1914 Utrillo mixed glue, plaster or cement with his paint to obtain the whites for which he became famous. His paintings of buildings show a striking contrast between the boldness of his color and his painstaking draftsmanship, experiments which led him to produce austere monochrome images in beige and gray. In the 1920s he gained an international reputation, and in 1929 received the Legion of Honor from the French government. In 1935 he married Lucie Valore and settled in Le Vesinet. Despite agonizing spells of what was called “poetic melancholy” at the time, he continued to produce artwork for the remainder of his life. He died in November 1955 due to complications from alcoholism, and is buried in Montmartre in the Cimetiere Saint-Vincent.

Location Box 4