Maximilien Luce

Frédéric Luce, Paris
Wildenstein Collection, New York
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York
Wiener Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owners in January, 1972

New York, Wildenstein & Co., Seurat and his Friends, 1953, no. 82, illustrated p. 33

Philippe Cazeau, M. Luce, Paris, 1982, illustrated p. 49
Jean Bouin-Luce & Denise Bazetoux, Maximilien Luce, Catalogue de l'oeuvre peint, vol. II, Paris, 1986, no. 655, illustrated p. 165

Artist's signature and date ('Luce, 1893') are concealed by a glue lining on the reverse. Under UV light, no inpainting is apparent. Colors: Colors are a bit brighter and contrast richer in the original.
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The Neo-Impressionists, such as Georges Seurat, Paul Signac and Maximilien Luce, reflected modern life through painted scenes laden with social commentary. Images of humble domestic duties are common throughout Luce's oeuvre. His "affinity with Neo-Impressionism was not only stylistic but also political: he shared with Signac and Pissarro an anarchist vision of a classless, utopian society" (The Art Institute of Chicago, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, 2000, p. 123).

Femme Cousant is a striking example of Luce's domestic compositions, where he places a simple chore as the central theme. He creates an intimate portrait of domestic life by painting the subject with respect and tenderness, applying uniform brushstrokes to capture the play of light around the figure's face and hair. "The quiet heroic lives of working people and their world... were his subject matter, portrayed in scintillating dots of exuberant colour"(Jean Bouin-Luce & Denise Bazetoux, Maximilien Luce: Catalogue of the Paintings, La Celle-Saint-Cloud, 1986, p. 404).

Although Luce's technique is less gestural than some of his Impressionist counterparts, he still uses abbreviated brushstrokes and intuitive color to model and illuminate the forms. The thicker brushstrokes in the foreground signify his move away from Pointillism towards a more Divisionist style. This "scientific" technique of divided colors creates the optical effect of volume, depth and perspective, resulting in a composition of simple, yet luminous forms.