Rue Cortot, Montmartre

1909

Maurice Utrillo

Artist, French, 1883 - 1955

A street stretches away from us between two walls to a town in this vertical, loosely painted landscape. Thick, textured brushstrokes are visible throughout. The pavement directly in front of us is camel brown with a pale blue squiggle suggesting a puddle. The wall to the right is celery green, and a bright blue sign is at the top, far corner. The wall to the left is buttressed and is painted in shades of sky and lapis blue. The road beyond the path is parchment brown, and three and four-story buildings lining the left side of the road are painted in tones of burnt orange, butter yellow, denim blue, and off white. Branches of a tree growing over the wall to the left are painted with curling strokes in olive green and royal blue, and the sky is very pale, yellow-tinted green. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower left corner, “Maurice Utrillo.V. 1909.”
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on cardboard

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 45.7 x 33.6 cm (18 x 13 1/4 in.)
    framed: 66 x 67 x 7.6 cm (26 x 26 3/8 x 3 in.)

  • Accession

    1970.17.88

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Alex Reid, Glasgow) and (L.H. Lèfevre & Son, London); sold c. 1924 to Mrs. R. A. Workman, London;[1] (her sale, at her house by Curtis & Henson, London, 21 December 1931, no. 765). Marcel Fleischmann, Zurich, in 1939.[2] Acquired between 1952 and 1955 by Capt. Edward H. Molyneux [1891-1974], Paris;[3] sold 15 August 1955 to Mrs. Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], New York; bequest 1970 to NGA.
[1]See letter from Alex Reid & Lèfevre dated 9 December 1977 in NGA curatorial files.
[2]Lent by Fleischmann to 1939 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.
[3]See letter from Molyneux to Bruce, dated 30 July 1955, in NGA Gallery Archives RG39, copy in NGA curatorial records.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1924

  • French Painters of Today, Alex Reid, Glasgow; Lefevre Galleris, London, 1924

1939

  • Small Paintings by Modern Artists, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1939, checklist only

1958

  • Paintings from the Collection of Mrs. Mellon Bruce, Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, 1958, no. 40.

1961

  • French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century from the Collection of Mrs. Mellon Bruce, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1961, no. 62, repro

1966

  • French Paintings from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, no. 200, repro

2002

  • Maurice Utrillo 1904-1951, Museum of Fine Arts Yasuda Kasai Seiji Togo, Tokyo; Prefectorial Museum of Modern Art, Toyama; Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu; Prefectorial Museum of Modern Art, Tokushima, 2002, no. 7, repro. (shown only in Gifu and Tokushima).

Bibliography

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 358, repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 416, repro.

Inscriptions

lower left: Maurice Utrillo.V. / 1909

Wikidata ID

Q20191289

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