Pointilist and Social Realist Maximilien Luce

A painter, lithographer and draftsman, Maximilien Luce was born into a poor family in Paris on March 13, 1858. After being trained in wood carving at the Ecole des Arts décoratifs, Maximilien Luce attended evening courses on engraving. In 1876 he found a position in Paris as an engraver for Eugène Froment (1844-1900). Acting as Froment's assistant, he traveled to London in 1877. Upon his return to in 1879, Luce was compelled to serve 4-years in the military. During this time and following, he studied painting at the Académie Suisse and under the supervision of Carolus-Duran (1837-1917) at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Maximilien Luce was deeply influenced by the Parisian Impressionist Movement and in the 1880s he met and established friendly contacts with many Parisian painters, including Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), Georges Seurat (1859-1891) and Paul Signac (1863-1935). Together with them he was one of the founders of Neo-Impressionism (Pointillism).

Through Camille Pissarro, Luce adopted their Anarchist ideas and formed friendships with the Anarchist writers and journalists such as Jules Christophe, Jean Grave, Georges Darien and Emile Pouget. In 1894 he became involved in the Trial of the Thirty and served a short term of imprisonment.

Until 1904 Luce lived in Montmartre, also the subject for a number of his paintings. Between 1904-1924, Maximilien Luce lived in Auteuil, France, during which time he traveled extensively through Etampes, Normandy and Brittany. Aside from the numerous landscapes he created during this time, he depicted street scenes, factories and wharfs. His subject matter for his paintings changed with the onset of the First World War. He moved to paint war scenes, particularly wounded soldiers and homecoming soldiers. In 1934, Maximilien Luce was elected President of the Société des Artistes Indépendants after Paul Signac's retirement. Although this was a great honor he soon resigned in protest to the society's policy of restricting admission to Jewish artists.

Maximilien Luce died in Paris in 1941. He is remembered most for his contributions to the Pointalist Movement and the Social Realist Movement.