Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Contemporary Art Society
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/maurice-utrillo-2090" aria-label="More by Maurice Utrillo" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Maurice Utrillo</a>
Le Passage Cottin
Bequeathed by Montague Shearman through the Contemporary Art Society 1940
adults
architecture
church
cities, towns, villages (non-UK)
countries and continents
figure
France
Paris, 18th arrondissement
Paris, 18th arrondissement, Montmartre
Paris, 18th arrondissement, Montmartre, Le Passage Cottin
Paris, 18th arrondissement, Montmartre, Sacré-Coeur
people
places
places of entertainment
religious
restaurant
signage
street
townscapes / man-made features
painting oil paint canvas
20 September 2018 – 13 January 2019
2019-01-13
20 September 2018 – 13 January 2019
2019-01-13
2018-09-20
Kunstmuseum Bonn (Bonn, Germany)
2018-09-20
The Eye of the City
Loan-out
Le Passage Cottin
support: 540 × 730 mm
frame: 820 × 1010 × 100 mm
Bequeathed by Montague Shearman through the <a href="/search?gid=999999975" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Contemporary Art Society</a> 1940
<p><b>Maurice Utrillo</b><span> 1883-1955 </span>
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<p><span><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/utrillo-le-passage-cottin-n05143" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05143</span></a> </span><b>Le Passage Cottin</b><span>
</span><i>c.</i><span>1910 </span>
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<p><span>Inscribed 'Maurice Utrillo V.' b.l.</span>
<br/><span>Oil on canvas, 21 1/4 x 28 3/4 (54 x 73)</span>
<br/><span>Bequeathed by Montague Shearman through the CAS 1940</span>
<br/><i>Prov:</i><span>
With Louis Libaude, Paris (purchased from the artist); with Galerie Van Leer, Paris; Montague Shearman and Sir Rex de C. Nan Kivell, Paris and London; Montague Shearman, London</span>
<br/><i>Exh:</i><span>
</span><i>The CAS: Second Loan Exhibition of Foreign Paintings</i><span>, M. Knoedler, London, February 1928 (55) as 'Montmartre', lent by Montague Shearman; </span><i>The Montague Shearman Collection</i><span>, Redfern Gallery, London, April-May 1940 (21, repr. in colour); </span><i>The Tate Gallery's Wartime Acquisitions</i><span>, National Gallery, London, April-May 1942 (138); </span><i>A Selection from the Tate Gallery's Wartime Acquisitions</i><span>, CEMA touring exhibition, September 1942-September 1943 (99); </span><i>Acquisitions of the CAS</i><span>, Tate Gallery, September-October 1946 (84)</span>
<br/><i>Lit:</i><span>
Paul Pétridès, </span><i>L'Oeuvre complet de Maurice Utrillo</i><span> (Paris 1959), No.171, Vol.1, p.222, repr. p.223 as 'Rue à Montmartre' </span><i>c.</i><span>1910</span>
<br/><i>Repr:</i><span>
John Rothenstein, </span><i>Modern Foreign Pictures in the Tate Gallery</i><span> (London 1947), pl.85; </span><i>Studio</i><span>, CXLI, 1951, p.131 in colour </span>
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<p><span>This picture has been known since at least 1928 simply as 'Montmartre', but it is actually a view up the Passage Cottin with at the end a flight of stone steps leading up towards the Sacre-Coeur. This identification, which was first suggested by N. Kornbluth, has been confirmed by the discovery of the picture postcard which Utrillo seems to have used to paint from [reproduced p.737; not reproduced here]. The viewpoint corresponds exactly and the scene is cut at the same points on either side, but the postcard is slightly narrower in format and the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> has been extended a little at top and bottom. </span>
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<p><span>A striking feature is the way the scene has been simplified throughout. Whereas the view in the postcard is rather cluttered and disordered, Utrillo has simplified the forms and heightened and purified the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/t/tone" title="Glossary definition for 'Tone'"><span>tonal</span></a> contrasts. For instance, the building on the right originally had an ornate wrought-iron balcony in front of the second floor window (with similar balconies extending down the side facing into the Passage Cottin) and there was some additional ironwork along the top of the awning. Even the inscriptions have been radically simplified. The building on the right had the word 'CAFE' across the striped awning and 'BIERE DE MUNI' (the last word cut short by the edge of the postcard) along the bottom; Utrillo omitted the first inscription altogether and substituted for the latter the single word 'RESTAURANT'. The only inscription which corresponds exactly is the sign 'J. ARVIS'. Similarly, the building on the left bore more and different lettering, with the name along the top and the words 'Dépôt No.11 | Lait à 20F la fille' repeated on either side of the doorway. Utrillo replaced these by the one word 'LAITERIE'. The postcard also shows the street with more than thirty people standing around, whereas in the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> it is almost deserted. </span>
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<p><span>Utrillo painted two other pictures of the Passage Coffin about 1911 and 1922 (Pétridès Nos.215 and 950), both showing views from further up the street and closer to the flight of steps. </span>
<br/></p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><span>Ronald Alley, </span><i>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</i><span>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.736-8, reproduced p.737</span>
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-15T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults architecture church cities, towns, villages (non-UK) countries and continents figure France Paris, 18th arrondissement Paris, 18th arrondissement, Montmartre Paris, 18th arrondissement, Montmartre, Le Passage Cottin Paris, 18th arrondissement, Montmartre, Sacré-Coeur people places places of entertainment religious restaurant signage street townscapes / man-made features