Maurice Utrillo

Tarnopol, New York
Private Collection, New York
The Estate of Marshall Tulin (and sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 4, 2006, lot 231)
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Paul Pétridès, L'Oeuvre complet de Maurice Utrillo, vol. I, Paris, 1959, illustrated p. 361 (titled Rue Orchmont à Montmartre)
Jean Fabris & Cédric Paillier, L'Oeuvre complet de Maurice Utrillo, vol. I, Paris, 2009, no. 312, illustrated p. 376

Executed on board, laid down on board. The corners of the board are slightly rounded. A close inspection reveals some minor old frame abrasion and three tiny dinks to the extreme edges of the board which are not visible when framed: in the center of the upper edge, the upper part of the left edge and the lower part of the right edge. There is an artist's pinhole towards the center of the lower edge. There is some stable hairline shrinkage in the white pigment of the wall and the blue pigment of the sky in the upper center. Examination under UV light reveals some tiny spots of retouching towards the edges of the work and to the facades of the left-most buildings. There is a thin intermittent line of retouching running vertically from 1/3 of the way along the upper edge and three small spots of retouching towards the center of the left edge. This work is in generally good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Although Utrillo’s development as an artist in these early years reveals little interest in or awareness of the activities of his avant-garde contemporaries, his work very quickly attracted the attention of sophisticated writers and collectors. Writer turned art dealer Louis Libaude signed an exclusive contract with Utrillo in 1910 and others including Francis Jourdin, Octave Mirbeau and Paul Gallimard soon began to collect his work. Libaude organized the first exhibition of Utrillo paintings, which was held at the Galerie Eugène Blot in 1913. Writing under his pen name, Louis Lormel, Libaude wrote in his introduction to the catalogue: “Maurice Utrillo is the painter of Montmartre. Since Lépine, I believe no artist has been able to render with such acute sensitivity the sad charm of this little provincial town, isolated on the summit of Paris. Utrillo excels in painting the cracked walls of the old houses. The smallest miserable front takes on in his paintings an extraordinary intensity of color and life… He is also a painter of the suburbs… He loves the morose steeples of old churches, the deserted streets of the gloomy suburbs… Maurice Utrillo evokes, above all, for every sensitive Parisian the nostalgia of his native city, its sickly sky, its resigned houses” (quoted in Maurice Utrillo (exhibition catalogue), Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, 1963, n.p.).