Maximilien Luce: Lost Treasures Unveiled

CLEVELAND – The Contessa Gallery at Legacy Village announces the upcoming opening of an exclusive exhibition dedicated to the art of one of the founders of Neo-Impressionism (Pointillism).

Pointillism is a style of painting in which non-primary colors are generated by the visual mixing of points of primary colors placed very close to each other. The method is also known as Divisionism. This technique was in contrast to current methods of creating non-primary colors, including mixing pigment in the palette or using pigments out of a tube.

A French painter, lithographer and draftsman, Maximilien Luce was born in a poor family in Paris. He gained fame using the methods developed by Georges Seurat, Paul Signac and himself. Through Camille Pissarro Luce came under the influence of Anarchist ideas and formed friendships with the Anarchist writers and journalists.

For a period of time Luce lived in Montmartre, the streets of which he liked to paint. He also had a great interest in the daily routines and labors of the “petit peuple” of Paris. Besides street scenes, factories and wharfs, he painted numerous landscapes on his travels through the Etampes, Normandy and Brittany. During the First World War he also painted war scenes, wounded and homecoming soldiers.   In 1934, Maximilien Luce was elected President of the Société des Artistes Indépendants after Signac’s retirement.

His works are in major museum collections worldwide including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Cleveland Museum of Art, National Gallery of Canada, and Musee d’Orsay. This is an exceptional opportunity for collectors to add Maximilien Luce to their holdings.