MAURICE UTRILLO (PARIS, 1883 – DAX, 1955) The Place du Tertre in Montmartre c. 1920 – 1922 Oil on canvas 46 x 61 cm. Signed lower right ‘Maurice. Utrillo, V.’ Wildenstein Committee certificate Provenance Kurt Sponagel – Hirzel, Zurich, 1955, Private collection, Switzerland, Sotheby’s auction, London, 25 March 1992, lot 62 Acquired at the above auction by the current owner. Publication P. Courthion, *Montmartre*, Lausanne, 1956, pp. 118 & 142 (illustrated on p. 118, dated ‘1920’) P. Pétridès, The Complete Works of Maurice Utrillo, vol. II, Paris, 1962, no. 901, p. 320 (illustrated on p. 321 with incorrect dimensions). Exhibition Basel, Kunsthalle, Maurice Utrillo. Graphische Blätter von Corot und Daumier, June–July 1942, no. 205. Vevey, Musée Jenisch, Maurice Utrillo, Valadon, Modigliani, Utter, July–September 1955, No. 50, p. 24 (with incorrect dimensions); Munich, Haus der Kunst, Maurice Utrillo V., Suzanne Valadon, June–September 1960, no. 77, p. 12 (illustrated in plate 39); Bern, Kunstmuseum, Utrillo, January–March 1963, no. 69; Tokyo, Seiji Togo Memorial Sompo Japan Museum of Art, Maurice Utrillo, April–June 2010, no. 23, p. 55 (illustrated); this exhibition travelled to Niigata, The Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, July–August 2010; Kyoto, Museum Eki Kyoto, September–October 2010; and Aichi, Toyohashi City Museum of Art & History, October–December 2010. It is from its south-western corner – when one emerges onto the square from the steps on Rue du Calvaire – that Maurice Utrillo chose to depict Montmartre’s most famous square. Instantly recognisable by its square shape, with its cluster of trees at the centre, it displays its café façades with their colourful walls and sea-green shutters. Admittedly, it is not yet the square cluttered with the easels of Poulbots’ painters and other amateur portraitists, but the whole atmosphere of this square is present, its layout having hardly changed. Beneath the canopy of trees, the light is filtered through the foliage, casting patches of light onto the ground. Passers-by, often in couples, cast their clumsy silhouettes, characteristic of Utrillo’s naïve style. The dark green foliage of the trees marks a clear divide between the ethereal blue sky overhead and this square with its low-rise buildings clustered below. The long tree trunks supporting this canopy of foliage help to create the effect of a vast hall where people pass one another and exchange greetings, sheltered from the sun. Utrillo’s entire style is evident here, with his focus on constructing space through neatly aligned architectural forms, his palette of vivid yet harmonious colours, and, finally, his distinctive graphic style that outlines the silhouettes and emphasises the details of each building.