Jacques Bouyssou vs. Maurice Utrillo
Many impressionist artists painted scenes of Paris with monuments, parks, plazas, Seine River, bridges, etc. that attracted tourists and these paintings are of a beautiful Paris. A few artists painted small alleyways in the neighborhood where every day Parisians go to cafés and bars for drinks with friends and to the small store to buy fruits, vegetables and newspapers. The children are playing in the street, and vendors with carts on the side street are selling flowers. Sometimes people are just gathering on the street corner to gossip.
Maurice Utrillo in the early 20th century and decades later Jacques Bouyssou depicted everyday life of Parisians in the neighborhood. When we look at these paintings there is an intimate feeling and it is charming.
They were both gifted artists of different eras. Utrillo had a troubled life from his birth out of wedlock, and he did not know who his father was. Bouyssou was born to a middle class family with proper upbringing and he was an all around happy
Obviously they perceived the same scenery with the same building in the neighborhood filtered through different states of mind. The feelings of Utrillo paintings are more detached and lonely, and Bouyssou’s paintings are more harmonious and engaging with tranquility and happiness.
Jacques Bouyssou
Paris - Pasage Brady
Carrefour Montmartre
Bouyssou was born in 1926 in Normandy and became acquainted at an early age with many respected artists such as Friez, Dufy, Lagar and Leprin who were frequent guests in the family home. Although Bouyssou studies architecture at the Beaux Arts de Troyes and drawing with the sculptor Janin, it was not until he moved to Paris and studied at the Academie de la Grand Chaumiere in the studio of Othon Friez that he began to paint.Recognition of his talent came rapidly and in 1955 he had his first one man show in London. Bouyssou received one of the supreme compliments of his career when he was named an official painter of the French Navy. His paintings have been acquired by numerous French and foreign museums as well as by private collectors around the world.
Jacques Bouyssou
Paris - le Petit Marche
The façade of the old building on the narrow alleyway of Montmartre has a certain character of age. Its feeling is almost like a personality. Some looks gloomy, some looks sad and some looks happy. The feeling was rendered on canvas with palette and
brush strokes.
Below are Maurice Utrillo paintings for comparison purposes only with Bouyssou paintings. These paintings are in the private collection and not for sale.
Maurice Utrillo
Rude de Paris a Asnieres
Utrillo was born in 1883 and his mother was Suzanne Valadon who became a model after a fall from a trapeze ended her chosen career as a circus acrobat.
She found that posing for Berthe Morisot, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and others provided her with an opportunity to study their techniques; in some cases, she also became their mistress. Meanwhile, her mother was left to raise the young Maurice, who soon showed a troubling inclination toward truancy and alcoholism.
When a mental illness took hold of the 21-year-old Utrillo in 1904, his mother encouraged him to take up painting. He soon showed real artistic talent. With no training beyond what his mother taught him, he drew and painted what he saw in Montmartre.
Place des Abbesses, Montmartre
Le Marquis de Montmartre
Impasse Cottin
