MAURICE UTRILLO (1883-1955)

The present work depicts the rooftops of Sarcelles, on the northern outskirts of Paris. Painted circa 1910, Les toits à Sarcelles typifies Utrillo's celebrated early series of urban settings, its assured brushwork and cream tones to the façades marking the beginnings of the distinctive "White Period" which characterized his work from 1909-1914.
Utrillo's work from this time, which would make his reputation, are notable for their balance of vigorous modernity and presumed naiveté. As art critic Edmond Jaloux commented in 1925: "perhaps one is at first surprised by a certain naivet in his manner of painting, by a certain simplicity in his way of feeling... In point of fact, naiveté and ingeniousness are more apparent than real, however, for one has only to examine with care a canvas by Utrillo to see to what extent one is dealing with a true painter; that is to say, an artist possessing a subtle, varied, and complex sense of color, and making use of admirable materials with which he imparts something magnificently luxurious to the dejected, desperate aspects of modern life" (quoted in A. Tabarant, op. cit, 1926, p. 234).