GEN PAUL (Paris, 1895 - 1975) Lot n° 11

RUE À MONTMARTRE 1920 Oil on canvas 50 x 61 cm Signed and dated lower right Provenance Private collection, Paris As a child and the "last great painter of Montmartre", Gen Paul initially deplored the constant influx of tourists to the backstreets of his neighbourhood, which had been made a must-see by the Cubist painters. Nevertheless, he returned to Montmartre after his demobilization in 1916 and rented a small house on the corner of Rue Junot and Impasse Girardon, in the vicinity of Kees van Dongen, who lived at No. 10 in the same impasse (lot 6 in this catalogue). This street in Montmartre illustrates his attempt to immortalise a neighbourhood in the throes of transformation, the film of which is replayed in the paintings of his first period. By 1920, his style had become more established and he exhibited two landscapes, two views of Montmartre like ours, at the Salon d'Automne.