Maximilien Luce

Frédéric Luce, Paris
Wildenstein & Co., New York
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York
Wiener Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above in January 1972

New York, Wildenstein & Co., Seurat and his Friends, 1953, no. 82, illustrated in the catalogue

Philippe Cazeau, Maximilien 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 often reflected modern life through painted scenes laden with social commentary. Images of humble domestic duties are common in 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" (Impressionism and Post-Impressionism (exhibition catalogue), The Art Institute, Chicago, 2000, p. 123).

Femme cousant is a striking example of Luce's domestic compositions, in which he selects a simple chore as his central theme. He creates an intimate portrait of domestic life by rendering his 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, op. cit., p. 404).

Although Luce's technique is less gestural than that of some of his Impressionist counterparts, he nevertheless uses abbreviated brushstrokes and an intuitive color scheme to model and illuminate 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 depth and perspective, resulting in an image of lumious and volumetirc forms.