Luce – Street Scene at Dusk

Maximilien Luce (1858 Paris – 1941 Paris)

STREET SCENE AT DUSK

1890s
Oil on canvas, mounted on canvas board, 16 x 25.5 cm
Signed upper right: Luce

Provenance:
Jean Bouin Luce Collection

Literature:
Jean Bouin-Luce and Denise Bazetoux, Maximilien Luce, catalogue de l’œuvre peint, vol. II, Édition JBL, Paris, 1986, no. 194, ill. p. 55

Luce taught himself oil painting more or less independently in the studios of artist friends and in courses at the Académie Suisse. In the early 1880s, he ventured into a freelance artistic career and caught a good moment for a new start. Georges Seurat had just invented Pointillism, an exciting neo-Impressionist style that caused a sensation and inspired him, and with the Salon des Indépendants, founded in 1884, even he, an outsider, had opportunities to exhibit his work without strict regulations. Luce joined Seurat’s circle. His pointillist works, painted between 1885 and 1900 with a significantly lighter palette, brought him national and international recognition during his lifetime. To this day, they fetch six- to seven-figure prices on the art market. The current auction record, set at Sotheby’s in New York in 2022, stands at €3.5 million.

Around 1900, after the Durand-Ruel Gallery had organised a solo exhibition for him in the autumn of 1899 that was a success with both the public and critics, Luce turned his back on Pointillism and returned to Impressionism. Being represented by the first and most important gallery owner of the Impressionists was an honour and beneficial to his career. Luce abandoned the dots. His brushstrokes became longer, softer and more virtuosic, while maintaining the luminosity and harmony of the colours.