Maurice Utrillo (1881-1953) - The white period at M.A.K. Galerie

1912 - The Rue du Mont-Cenis

This is the December showcase on Avenue Matignon, opposite Sotheby's.

This is a large-format postcard of Montmartre. If it's white, it's not because Maurice Utrillo depicted it as snow-covered, but because he introduced material effects using a very personal technique. He enriched his colors with cement, chalk and plaster, literally "masoning" the walls he depicted.

The painting, which has had an extraordinary career, is reproduced in the various catalogs raisonnés of the artist's work. Louis Libaude, arguably the artist's first dealer, jealously guarded it for himself. When the painting came back on the market, at the sale of the Libaude collection, bids soared and the Bernheim brothers won the bid. In 1932, it was resold. The Gazette Drouot couldn't believe its eyes: amidst Chagall, Derain, Marquet, Matisse, Modigliani, Picasso... "it was a canvas by Utrillo (no. 80), La Rue du Mont Cenis à Montmartre, that fetched the highest price". By 1956, the English had given up. The painting went to the Marlborough Gallery in London.

To understand this enthusiasm, let's go back to 1912. Octave Mirbeau, encouraged by Francis Jourdain, enters Louis Libaude's shop at no. 7 avenue Trudaine. Faced with an aesthetic shock, he became the first assiduous collector of works from Maurice Utrillo's White Period:

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"All this Montmartre is becoming to me, through your painter [Utrillo], of infinite originality. No one, yes, no one has painted the street, the little stores, the humble hotels, the spindly trees like he has. And those skies - Mirbeau added, coming over to touch them with his hand, maternally - are they vast, gentle, deep, merciful and consoling! [...] My dear Francis, you have found the rare bird!" (quoted from Gustave Coquiot, Maurice Utrillo V., Paris, 1925, p. 57-59)

A Utrillo exhibition at M.A.K. Galerie, December 2024-January 2025

This 1912 landmark work is accompanied by other paintings and drawings by the artist. The exhibition also includes views of Le Lapin Agile and the network of contacts forged around the famous cabaret, where the artistic Tout-Paris used to gather; the decade 1923-1933 marks the beginning of the Colorful Period and an international career.

In Maurice Utrillo's artistic geography, Marc-Arthur Kohn Galerie occupies a special place for several reasons. Firstly, its honorary director is a member of the Comité Utrillo-Valadon. His mother Angela Kohn-Bonaglia was a modern art dealer specializing in the École de Paris. She was a key player in the trade of Maurice Utrillo's works.

Secondly, its location at 24 avenue Matignon. The gallery is located between the former Paul Guillaume (6 rue de Miromesnil: parallel street) and Paul Pétridès (31 avenue Matignon: opposite sidewalk) galleries, not far from Bernheim-Jeune frères (25 boulevard de la Madeleine). The Comité Utrillo-Valadon naturally holds its appraisal meetings for works by Maurice Utrillo and Suzanne Valadon at Marc-Arthur Kohn Galerie.