MAURICE UTRILLO

(1883-1955)

Ferme-Laiterie de la Voie-Dieu, Bourganeuf (Creuse)

Footnotes

The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by the Comité Utrillo-Valadon. This work will be included in the forthcoming volume of the Maurice Utrillo catalogue raisonné, currently being prepared.

Provenance
Antonin Ponchon & Cie., Lyon.
Galerie Druant-David, Paris; their sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 25 January, 1956, lot 85.
Anon. sale, Sotheby's, London, 8 July 1971, lot 55.
G. Borni Collection (acquired at the above sale).
Louis Deblasi-Lachal Collection, Paris.
Wally Findlay Galleries Inc., New York, no. 49467 (acquired from the above in May 1973).
Robert Allmand Collection, Boca Raton (acquired from the above in February 1978).
Elise Reeder Olton Collection, Boca Raton (acquired from the above).
Private collection, Florida (acquired from the above circa 2013).
Private collection, California (by descent from the above); their sale, Bonhams, New York, 13 May 2021, lot 17.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.

Literature
A. Basler, Maurice Utrillo, Paris, 1931 (illustrated p. 67).
P. Pétridès, L'oeuvre complet de Maurice Utrillo, Vol. IV, Paris, 1966, no. AG 202 (illustrated p. 217; dated 1928).

Maurice Utrillo captures a snapshot in time in Ferme-Laiterie de la Voie-Dieu, Bourganeuf (Creuse). The scene consists of five farmers, going about their daily chores on la Voie-Dieu, an overgrown street situated in the small commune of Bourganeuf. Built in the 12th century by the knights of St. John, the medieval village of Bourganeuf boasts timeless architecture – stone and mortar farmhouses framed with irregular stones and red-tiled roofs line the streets. Utrillo visited Bourganeuf a handful of times, returning to la Voie-Dieu to paint the town's inhabitants going about their quotidian routines. Utrillo implements his celebrated manière blanche palette in the present work, deploying whites, soft greys, creamy yellows and delicate pinks against deep blues, greens and reds.

The painting boasts a distinguished provenance, originally hailing from the Lyon gallery of Antonin Ponchon, a dealer and artist who was a close friend to both Utrillo and his mother Suzanne Valadon. Acquired by Wally Findlay Galleries in New York in 1973, it then entered the collection of Floridian socialite Elise Reeder Olton where it remained for over thirty years.