André Utter
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/Georges_Kars%2C_Portrait_d%27Andr%C3%A9_Utter%2C_1924%2C_AM1974-212.jpg/300px-Georges_Kars%2C_Portrait_d%27Andr%C3%A9_Utter%2C_1924%2C_AM1974-212.jpg)
André Utter (20 March 1886 – 7 February 1948) was a French painter. He was in the 18th arrondissement of Paris to parents of Alsatian origin. He is best known for having been the second husband and manager of French painter Suzanne Valadon and the father-in-law of her son, Maurice Utrillo. The trio have also been called the trinité maudite (cursed trinity) due to their atmosphere of quarrels, reconciliations and alcoholism.[1]
Life[]
In 1906, Utter was introduced to Suzanne Valadon by his friend Maurice Utrillo, her son-in-law. He became her lover and was her first male model to pose nude for her from 1909 to 1914.[2]
The couple married shortly before Utter was drafted into World War I. When he returned in 1918, he took over the management of the careers of Valadon and Utrillo.
In 1934, the couple divorced. He remained part of her life until she died four years later.[2] He is buried with Valadon in the Saint Ouen cemetery in Paris.
Works[]
From 1910, he produced numerous landscape paintings, and in particular of rue Cortot where his studio was located. After 1925, his work consisted mainly of portraits and still life. The also painted theatre sets. Inspired by cubism, his work took on a softer tone after World War I.
Between 1915 and 1922 and again from 1925 and 1932, there were several joint exhibitions in Paris, including in the gallery of Berthe Weill. In 1925, he illustrated the "Théâtre à lire" by Oscar Wilde. He had a solo exhibition in Geneva in 1932, but was unsuccessful as a painter.
One of André Utter's best known works is Suzanne Valadon se coiffant (Suzanne Valadon combing her hair), painted in 1913 and displayed in the Petit Palais museum in Genève. Other works are displayed in many museums including the Brou museum in Bourg-en-Bresse; the museum of fine arts in Lyon; the modern art museum of Troyes and the musée d'art moderne et contemporain in Strasbourg.
He is portrayed as Adam in Suzanne Valadon's 1909 painting Adam et Ève.[3]
André Utter: Portrait de Suzanne Valadon, 1921
Nature morte au tabouret, Musée Toulouse-Lautrec Albi.
Coupe de fruits (1911), musée des Beaux-Arts de Brest.
References[]
- ^ Aimar, Pierre. "Valadon, Utrillo et Utter, la trinité maudite – entre Paris et Saint-Bernard, 1909-1939, du 16 octobre au 12 février 2012 au musée Paul Dini, Villefranche". arts-spectacles (in French).
- ^ Jump up to: a b Alicia Craig Faxon (2001). "UTTER, Andre". Dictionary of artists' models. London: Fitzroy Dearborn. p. 530. ISBN 978-1-57958-233-3.
- ^ Doll, p.206
Bibliography[]
- Beachboard, Robert (1952). La Trinité maudite : Valadon, Utter, Utrillo. Paris: Amiot-Dumont.
- Doll, Valeska (2001). Suzanne Valadon (1865 - 1938) ; Identitätskonstruktion im Spannungsfeld von Künstlermythen und Weiblichkeitsstereotypen. München. ISBN 978-3-8316-0036-6.
- Martine Willot, Bertrand Willot, Michèle Michy-Quizet, Alphonse Quizet et ses amis, 1955-2005, il y a cinquante ans disparaissaient Alphonse Quizet et Maurice Utrillo, La Vie d'artiste AWD, 2005 (ISBN 2-913639-05-4).
- Wilde, Oscar (1925). Théâtre à lire. Paris: André Delpeuch.
- 1886 births
- 1948 deaths
- 19th-century French painters
- French male painters
- 20th-century French painters
- 20th-century male artists
- People of Montmartre
- Suzanne Valadon
- 19th-century male artists
- French painter, 19th-century birth stubs