Valley Galley - The Art Kitchen: Harry Finney - Oil painter - 1875-1925 & Maurice Utrillo V. - 1883

Harry Finney

(fl. 1875 - 1925)

Like so many artists of the period Harry Finney was a very respected and gifted painter; however unfortunately, there is very little personal information about him.

What are known are basically records of his participation in different exhibitions that have been documented though time. It is known that Harry Finney lived in Philadelphia and Paris, France.

In Paris he studied with William Adolph Bouguereau (1825-1905), one of the greatest painters, if not the greatest teacher of the Academic Tradition in the world from 1890-1893.
He also studied with Joseph Nicolas Robert-Fleury (1797-1890) a great teacher and known for his romantic style of painting.
This also lasted from 1890-1893, in 1892 he additionally studied with August Friedrich Albrecht Schenck (1828-1901) who was very proficient in landscape (1892-93).

Throughout the 1890s he was very active exhibiting at the Paris Salon (1890-1893), Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1888, 1890, 1896-97) and the National Academy of Design in 1890.

Sources:
Lois Marie Fink, ‘American Art at the Nineteen-Century Paris Salons’, pp.342-43
Peter Falk, ‘Who Was Who In American Art’, v. 1, p.1123
The Annual Exhibition Record of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, (1876-1913),
p. 197
Exhibition of the National Academy (1861-1900), v.1, p.296

Portrait of a young woman

Oil on canvas

P.O.A

Seascape

Oil on canvas

(18" x 24" in gilded frame)

P.O.A

Wooded landscape

Oil on canvas

(18" x 24" in gilded frame)

P.O.A

Utrillo, Maurice (1883-1955)

Maurice Utrillo, French painter, took to art in an attempt to escape alcoholism at the age of 19.

Initially painted prolific number of somber landscapes of the countryside around Montmagny near Paris

but his paintings brightened and adopted a less somber tone after his return to Montmartre 3 years

later and created the first of many street scenes composed of ordinary houses and churches.

Utrillo was later to choose Cathedrals as his mainsubject.

UTRILLO, HIS LIFE

The son of Suzanne Valadon and of an unknown father, Maurice Utrillo was born in Montmartre on

December 26th 1883. Working as a model for the artists Puvis de Chavannes, Renoir and Toulouse-Lautrec, Suzanne Valadon rapidly neglected her son and devoted herself to painting instead.

The young Maurice was left in the care of his grand-mother but coping with his loneliness and the

absence of his mother he soon became addicted to drink. Already, at the age of 21 he suffered the first

symptoms of a deep mental disorder. From then on,fits of explosive anger, scandals and internments in

lunatic asylums became his common lot during many years. Luckily, such mental illness resulted in an urge to paint. Following the advice of a doctor, who was also a close friend, Suzanne Valadon encouraged her son to start up a career thinking that painting could prove to be a useful therapy for him.

Nevertheless, she soon understood that he was endowed with a real talent.

As early as 1926, Maurice Utrillo became famous and his works were much in demand by collectors.

He married Lucie Pauwels in 1935 and settled in the Paris suburb of Le Vésinet where he led a

peaceful life working daily until his death on November 5th 1955.

UTRILLO, HIS CAREER...

Utrillo never adhered to the major artistic currents, the "Fauvist", "Cubist" or "Post-Impressionist"

movements, which emerged during this century. Everything he wanted to signify was told in the

scenes he painted according to his own way. Utrillo's landscape his not that of nature. Contrary

to the Impressionist painters he left little place to water, grounds or to nature. Painting a sky was not

his major preoccupation. His landscapes are simply invaded by buildings erected by human

hands. They are made of villages, suburbs and towns.

UNEVEN is for painters whose works are not equally priced because of certain factors, notably an artist's

best period (the Blue period for Picasso being his best,Van Gogh's works produced after 1886, Derain and Vlaminck before 1910, Mondrian after 1911 being the most expensive), not to mention works considered today as more commercial than others.

Utrillo Maurice (1883-1955) (France): Uneven. Between $ 60,000 and 800,000

http://www.artcult.com/indexu_f.htm