Maximilien Luce (; 13 March 1858 – 6 February 1941) was a French Neo-impressionist artist, known for his paintings, graphic art and his anarchist activism. Starting as a wood-engraver, he subsequently concentrated on painting, first as an Impressionist, then as a Pointillist and finally returning to Impressionism.

Early life and education

Maximilien-Jules-Constant Luce was born on 13 March 1858 in Paris. His parents, of modest means, were Charles-Désiré Luce (1823–1888), a railway clerk, and Louise-Joséphine Dunas (1822–1878). The family lived in the

Montparnasse Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. It is split betwee ...

, a working-class district of Paris. Luce attended school at l'Ecole communale, beginning in 1864. In 1872, the fourteen-year-old Luce became an apprentice with wood-engraver Henri Théophile Hildebrand (1824–1897). During his three-year xylography apprenticeship, he also took night classes in drawing from instructors Truffet and Jules-Ernest Paris (1827–1895). During this period, Luce started painting in oils. He moved with his family to the southern Paris suburb of

Montrouge Montrouge () is a Communes of France, commune in the southern Parisian suburbs, located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe. After a long period of decline, the population has increased agai ...

. His art education continued as he attended drawing classes taught by Diogène Maillard (1840–1926) at the Gobelins tapestry factory. Luce began working in the studio of (1844–1900) in 1876, producing

wood-engraving Wood engraving is a printmaking technique, in which an artist works an image into a block of wood. Functionally a variety of woodcut, it uses relief printing, where the artist applies ink to the face of the block and prints using relatively lo ...

s for various publications, including ''

L'Illustration ''L'Illustration'' (; 1843–1944) was a French language, French illustrated weekly newspaper published in Paris. It was founded by Édouard Charton with the first issue published on 4 March 1843, it became the first illustrated newspaper in ...

'' and London's ''

The Graphic ''The Graphic'' was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company, Illustrated Newspapers Ltd with Thomas's brother, Lewis Samuel Thomas, as a co-founder. The Graphic was set up as ...

''. He took additional art courses, at l'Académie Suisse, and also in the studio of portrait painter

Carolus-Duran Charles Auguste Émile Durand, known as Carolus-Duran (4 July 1837 – 17 February 1917), was a French painter and art instructor. He is noted for his stylish depictions of members of Upper class, high society in French Third Republic, Third Rep ...

(1837–1917). Through Froment's studio, Luce became friends with Léo Gausson and Émile-Gustave Cavallo-Péduzzi. These three artists spent time around

Lagny-sur-Marne Lagny-sur-Marne (, literally ''Lagny on Marne'') is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located in the Seine-et-Marne department in Île-de-France from the centre of Paris (20 minutes away from the centre of Paris). The ...

creating Impressionist landscapes.

Work

Luce spent four years in the military, starting in 1879, serving in

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

Guingamp Guingamp (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. With a population of 7,115 as of 2020, Guingamp is one of the smallest towns in Europe to have a top-tier professional football team: En Avant Guin ...

. The next year, he received a promotion to corporal, and he became friends with

Alexandre Millerand Alexandre Millerand (; – ) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1920 to 1924, having previously served as Prime Minister of France earlier in 1920. His participation in Waldeck-Rousseau's cabinet at the start of the ...

, who, in 1920, assumed the office of

President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is the supreme magistracy of the country, the po ...

. In 1881 he requested the restoration of his lower rank of soldier, second class. Carolus-Duran used his influence to get a transfer for Luce to Paris barracks. His stint in the military came to a close in 1883. The prevalence of the new zincography printing process rendered xylography nearly obsolete as a profession. When the opportunities for employment as an engraver became scarce, Luce shifted his focus to painting full-time in about 1883. Gausson and Cavallo-Péduzzi introduced Luce in about 1884 to the Divisionist technique developed by

Georges Seurat Georges Pierre Seurat ( , ; ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough ...

. This influenced Luce to begin painting in the Pointillist style. In contrast to Seurat's detached manner, Luce's paintings were passionate portrayals of contemporary subjects, depicting the "violent effects of light". He moved to

Montmartre Montmartre ( , , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement of Paris, 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Rive Droite, Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for its a ...

in 1887. Luce joined the

Société des Artistes Indépendants The Société des Artistes Indépendants (, ''Society of Independent Artists'') or Salon des Indépendants was formed in Paris on 29 July 1884. The association began with the organization of massive exhibitions in Paris, choosing the slogan "''sa ...

and participated in their third spring exhibition, where

Paul Signac Paul Victor Jules Signac ( , ; 11 November 1863 – 15 August 1935) was a French Neo-Impressionist painter who, with Georges Seurat, helped develop the artistic technique Pointillism. Biography Paul-Victor-Jules Signac was born in Paris on ...

purchased one of his pieces, ''La Toilette''.

Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( ; ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). ...

and critic

Félix Fénéon Félix Fénéon (; 22 June 1861 – 29 February 1944) was a French art critic, gallery director, writer and anarchist during the late 19th century and early 20th century. He coined the term '' Neo-Impressionism'' in 1886 to identify a group of ...

were also impressed by the seven Luce works displayed in the show. Fénéon characterized Luce as a "coarse, honest man, with a rough and muscular talent." In addition to Pissarro and Signac, he met many of the other Neo-impressionists, including Seurat,

Henri-Edmond Cross Henri-Edmond Cross (; 20 May 1856 – 16 May 1910), born Henri-Edmond-Joseph Delacroix (), was a French painter and printmaker. He is most acclaimed as a master of Neo-Impressionism and he played an important role in shaping the second phase ...

, Charles Angrand, Armand Guillaumin, Hippolyte Petitjean, Albert Dubois-Pillet, and Pissarro's son Lucien. A ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' critic declared this Pointillist period to be the pinnacle of Luce's artistic career, singling out the radiant 1895 painting ''On the Bank of the Seine at Poissy'' as an example. He described the skillfully executed painting as "a lyrical celebration of nature." Maximilien Luce - Le bon samaritain

With the exception of the years 1915 to 1919, Luce exhibited in every show at Les Indépendants from 1887 until he died in 1941, including a thirty-year retrospective held in 1926. In 1909, he was elected vice president of the Société des Artistes Indépendants, and was elected president in 1935, following the death of Signac, who had held the post since 1908. However, in 1940 he resigned from the position as a protest against the

Vichy regime Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against ...

's laws which would have prohibited Jewish artists from participating in the group. Luce had his first solo exhibition, arranged by Fénéon, in July 1888, exhibiting ten paintings at the ''La Revue indépendante'' offices. He showed six paintings at the 1889

Les XX ''Les XX'' ( French; "''Les Vingt''"; ; ) was a group of twenty Belgian painters, designers and sculptors, formed in 1883 by the Brussels lawyer, publisher, and entrepreneur Octave Maus. For ten years, they held an annual exhibition of their a ...

exhibition in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. While there, he met Les XX official Octave Maus, as well as

Symbolist Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

poet Emile Verhaeren and fellow Neo-impressionist painter

Théo van Rysselberghe Théophile "Théo" van Rysselberghe (23 November 1862 – 13 December 1926) was a Belgian Neo-impressionism, neo-impressionist Painting, painter, who played a pivotal role in the European art scene at the turn of the twentieth century. Bi ...

. Luce's work was also featured in the ninth Les XX exhibition, in 1892. In the spring of 1892 Luce traveled with Pissarro to London. Later that year, he visited

Saint-Tropez Saint-Tropez ( , ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Var (department), Var departments of France, department and the regions of France, region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Southern France. It is west of Nice and east of Marseille, o ...

with Signac, and in the summer of 1893, he went to

. Starting near the early part of the twentieth century, his identification with the Neo-impressionists began to disappear, as he became less active politically, and his artistic style shifted from Neo-impressionism, and he resumed painting in an Impressionist manner. Some of his paintings during this period depicted wounded World War I soldiers arriving from the battlefront to Paris. Luce depicted a diverse range of subjects in his works over a long career. He most frequently created

landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

, but his other works include portraits,

still life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...

s (especially florals), domestic scenes, such as bathers, and images of welders,

rolling mill In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness, to make the thickness uniform, and/or to impart a desired mechanical property. The concept is simi ...

operators, and other laborers.

Anarchism

Luce aligned with the Neo-impressionists not only in their artistic techniques, but also in their political philosophy of

anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

. Many of his illustrations were featured in socialist periodicals, notably ''La Révolte'', Jean Grave's magazine which was later called ''Les Temps nouveaux''. Other socialist/anarchist publications which he contributed to include ''Le Père Peinard'', ''Le Chambard'', and ''La Guerre sociale''. On 8 July 1894, Luce, suspected of involvement in June assassination of President of France Marie François Sadi Carnot, was arrested and was confined to Mazas Prison. He was released forty two days later, on 17 August, following his acquittal at the Procès des trente. He published ''Mazas'', an album consisting of ten

lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...

s documenting the experiences of himself and other political prisoners incarcerated in Mazas; accompanying the lithographs was text by Jules Vallès. In 1896, while King

Alfonso XIII of Spain Alfonso XIII ( Spanish: ''Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Habsburgo-Lorena''; French: ''Alphonse Léon Ferdinand Marie Jacques Isidore Pascal Antoine de Bourbon''; 17 May 1886 – 28 February 1941), also ...

was visiting Paris, the police detained Luce on the grounds that he was a "dangerous anarchist". Luce's choice of subject matter for his art was often rooted in his political beliefs. Through his paintings, he passionately demonstrated empathy and fellowship with the

proletariat The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian or a . Marxist ph ...

Family

In 1893, Luce met Ambroisine "Simone" Bouin in Paris. She became his model, companion, common-law wife, and wife. Bouin was usually referred to as "Madame Luce", even before their eventual marriage. She was frequently a model for him, appearing in many of his works, often partially or fully nude, other times depicted in scenes such as on a balcony or combing her hair. The couple's first son, Frédérick, was born on 5 June 1894, but he died fifteen months later, on 2 September 1895. Their second child, whom they also named Frédérick, was born in 1896, and in 1903 they adopted Ambroisine's nephew Georges Édouard Bouin, who had become orphaned. The couple got married on 30 March 1940 in Paris; just a few months later, Ambroisine died, in Rolleboise, on 7 June 1940.

Death and assessment

Maximilien Luce Notre-Dame de Paris 1900

Luce died at his Paris home on 7 February 1941, at the age of 82. He was buried in Rolleboise. In May 1941, the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

held a memorial exhibition, and another memorial exhibition was mounted at Les Indépendants from March to April 1942. Luce was among the most productive of the Neo-impressionists, creating over two thousand oil paintings, a comparably large number of watercolors, gouaches, pastels, and drawings, plus over a hundred prints. The

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...

assesses Luce as "one of the best representatives of the neo-impressionist movement". Although he had had many solo exhibitions of his work in France, the first one in the United States did not occur until a 1997 retrospective at Wildenstein & Company in Manhattan. ''Notre Dame de Paris'', painted in 1900, sold at auction in May 2011 for , setting a record for a Luce work.

Collections

Public collections containing Luce's work include: *

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

* Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College *

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Located in the Wade Park District of University Circle, the museum is internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian art, Asian and Art of anc ...

*Davis Museum and Cultural Center (

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a Private university, private Women's colleges in the United States, historically women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henr ...

) *

Dixon Gallery and Gardens The Dixon Gallery and Gardens is an art museum within 17 acres of gardens, established in 1976, and located at 4339 Park Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee, United States. The museum focuses on French and American impressionism and features works b ...

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. FAMSF's combined attendance was 1,1 ...

Harvard University Art Museums The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

High Museum The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (2 ...

(Atlanta, Georgia) *

Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. It has one of the largest single co ...

* Indiana University Art Museum (Bloomington) *

Indianapolis Museum of Art The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, the Garden at Newfields and more. It is located at the corner of No ...

Kröller-Müller Museum The Kröller-Müller Museum () is a national art museum and sculpture garden, located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park in Otterlo in the Netherlands. The museum, founded by art collector Helene Kröller-Müller within the extensive grounds of ...

(Otterlo, Netherlands) *

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961 ...

Memphis Brooks Museum of Art Memphis Brooks Museum of Art is an art museum in Memphis, Tennessee. The Brooks Museum, which was founded in 1916, is the oldest and largest art museum in the state of Tennessee. The museum is a privately funded nonprofit institution located in ...

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

* Michele and Donald D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts (Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A.) *

Minneapolis Institute of Arts The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United Stat ...

*Musée d'art moderne (

Troyes Troyes () is a Communes of France, commune and the capital of the Departments of France, department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within ...

) *Musée de l'Annonciade (

) *

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen () is an art museum in Rouen, in Normandy in north-western France. It was established by Napoléon Bonaparte in 1801, and is housed in a building designed by and built between 1877, and 1888. Its collections in ...

*Musée des Impressionnismes (

Giverny Giverny () is a Communes of France, commune in the northern French Departments of France, department of Eure.Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...

* Musée Lambinet (

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

) *

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 5,000 years of history with nearly 80,000 works from six continents. Follow ...

* Museum of Grenoble * Museum Barberini (Potsdam, Germany) * New Art Gallery (Walsall, United Kingdom) *Palazzo Ruspoli (Rome) *

Portland Museum of Art The Portland Museum of Art, or PMA, is the largest and oldest public art institution in Maine. Founded as the Portland Society of Art in 1882. It is located in the downtown area known as The Arts District in Portland, Maine. History The PMA use ...

(Maine) *

Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 117,000 work ...

Saint Louis Art Museum The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) is an art museum located in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. With paintings, sculptures, cultural objects, and ancient masterpieces from around the world, its three-story building stands in Forest Park in ...

(Missouri) *

San Diego Museum of Art The San Diego Museum of Art is a fine art museum in Balboa Park in San Diego, California, that houses a broad collection with particular strength in Spanish art. It opened as the Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego on February 28, 1926, and changed ...

(California) *

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum (, ; named after its founder, Baron Heinrich Thyssen, Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza), or simply the Thyssen, is an art museum in Madrid, Spain, located near the Museo del Prado, Prado Museum on one of the city ...

(Madrid) * Wallraf-Richartz Museum (Cologne, Germany)

Gallery

File:Maximilien Luce-Man Washing.jpg, ''Man Washing'', 1887 File:Port of London, Night by Maximilien Luce, High Museum of Art.jpg, ''Port of London, Night''

High Museum of Art The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...

File:Luce-Côte de la citadelle-Musée de l'Annonciade.jpg, ''Côte de la citadelle'', 1892 File:Maximilien Luce Scène de Rue à Paris 1896.jpg, ''Street Scene in Paris'', 1896 File:Factory in the Moonlight by Maximilien Luce, 1898.jpg, ''Factory in the Moonlight'', 1898 File:L'ACIERIE.PNG, ''L’Aciérie'', 1899 File:Maximilien Luce - 'Montmartre, de la rue Cortot, vue vers saint-denis', oil on canvas painting, c. 1900.jpg, ''Montmartre, de la rue Cortot, vue vers Saint-Denis'', c. 1900 File:Maximilien Luce - La Seine au Pont Saint-Michel.jpg, ''La Seine au Pont Saint-Michel'', 1900 File:Maximilien Luce - The Quai Saint-Michel and Notre-Dame - Google Art Project.jpg, '' The Quai Saint-Michel and Notre-Dame'', 1901 File:Maximilien Luce - Les batteurs de pieux entre 1902 et 1905.jpg, ''Les batteurs de pieux'', 1902 File:Maximilien Luce - A Street in Paris in May 1871 - Google Art Project.jpg, ''A Street in Paris in May 1871'', 1903–1906 File:Maximilien Luce - Paysage près de Méréville.jpg, ''Paysage près de Méréville, c. 1905 File:Maximilien Luce-The Port of Rotterdam, Evening.jpg, ''The Port of Rotterdam, Evening'', 1908 File:Le chantier.jpg, ''Le chantier'', 1911 File:Maximilien Luce-The Execution of Varlin.jpg, ''The Execution of Varlin'', 1914–1917 File:Maximilien Luce Portrait du docteur Marieux.jpg, ''Portrait of Doctor Marieux''

References

Sources

* *

External links

Maximilien Luce
– Findlay Galleries
Maximilien Luce on ArtNet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luce, Maximilien 19th-century French painters French male painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists French Post-impressionist painters Painters from Paris Pointillism French anarchists 1858 births 1941 deaths 20th-century French printmakers