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Maximilien Luce Retrospective at Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny

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Written by Pierre Dumond   
Thursday, 29 July 2010 02:46

Maximilien Luce (1858-1941) - 'La Gare de l'Est Sous La Neige' (The East Railway Station under the snow, 1917) by famed French artist associated with Neo Impressionism. The painting is at the Giverny Museum of Impressionisms.

GIVERNY, FRANCE - Covering Luce’s career, the retrospective exhibition brings together around 80 works and features some of the most significant examples of Neo-impressionist painting. Maximilien Luce (1858-1941) was born in Paris to an artisan’s family. He worked as a printmaker in his early years then, around 1880, devoted his career to painting. Camille Pissarro, who shared his anarchist convictions, introduced him to the Neo-Impressionist group in 1887. On view from 28 July to 31 October 2010 at the Giverny Museum of Impressionisms.

Luce adopted their technique of divisionism – the separate application of individual colors. But, far from having the detached approach of Georges Seurat, Luce portrayed the contemporary world with passion. He liked to depict violent effects of light, from the sunset on the banks of the Seine River to the new effects of artificial, urban lighting. No less lyrical are the paintings of the Pays Noir where the flames of blast furnaces set the night ablaze.

Luce’s works became powerfully colorful prefiguring Fauvism. Fascinated by Haussmann’s works, he evoked the world of builders. In his later years, living in Rolleboise in the Department of the Yvelines, Luce found peace and calm and returned to more tranquil subjects.

The port of Saint-Tropez by Paul Signac painted in 1899, oil on canvas, 65 x.81 cm. Courtesy of Musée de l'Annonciade, St. Tropez, France

Maximilien Luce (March 13, 1858 – February 6, 1941) was a French artist associated with Neo Impressionism. A printmaker, painter, and anarchist, Luce is best known for his pointillist canvases. He grew up in the working class Montparnasse, and became a painter of landscapes and urban scenes which frequently emphasize the activities of people at work. Maximilien Luce was a member of the Groupe de Lagny with Léo Gausson, Paul Signac, Émile-Gustave Cavallo-Péduzzi and Lucien Pissarro.

Like Camille Pissarro, Luce was active with anarchist groups in Paris in the 1890s, and in 1894 served a brief prison term during the Trial of the thirty, before being acquitted. One of his friends in this period was the Swedish artist Ivan Aguéli. During World War I, Luce painted war scenes, depicting soldiers struggling against the horrors of the Great War. Luce died in Paris in 1941.

With information from www.wikipedia.org

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