Maximilien Luce

The first retrospective monograph on Maximilien Luce (1858-1941) in nearly two decades, this publication surveys the accomplishments of this significant French Neo-Impressionist painter. Working first as a printmaker, Luce devoted himself to painting around 1880. Shortly after, in 1887, Camille Pissarro, who shared his anarchist politics, introduced Luce to the Neo-Impressionist group, which included Georges Seurat and Henri-Edmond Cross. Luce adopted the Divisionist or Pointillist method to create almost violent light effects, infusing the technique with a newfound passion at some remove from, for example, Seurat's more detached approach. From a sunset on the banks of the Seine to the flames blasting from a furnace, Luce's powerfully colorful treatment of his subjects can now be seen to have prefigured the Fauvism of Henri Matisse and Andre Derain. The book unites nearly 80 works by the artist, including paintings that reveal Luce's fascination with Baron Haussmann's recreation of Paris.