It's something of a truism that the life of an artist heavily influences his or her work. No exhibition makes this clearer than "Utrillo & Valadon" at the Seiji Togo Memorial Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Museum of Art, which pairs the art of Maurice Utrillo, the famous painter of Parisian cityscapes, and his mother, Suzanne Valadon, famous as a model and an artist in her own right.
But while the connection between biography and artistic output is always significant and interesting, the fascinating point about this exhibition is that it also allows us to speculate on how the relationship between these two artists influenced them and their art. In particular, one suspects that Utrillo's art could not have been what it was without the input of his mother, even if this had a negative aspect.
The most obvious thing that strikes the visitor is that almost all of Valadon's works feature people — mainly portraits and nudes — although she also developed a skilful sideline in still lifes. The impression this gives is of a women fascinated by beauty — her own and that of others — and in the thick of society. One almost imagines a post-impressionist version of Kim Kardashian, minus the obsession with "selfies," as there is only a single self portrait, done later in life at the age of 62, along with a sketch from a few decades earlier.