Maximilien Luce

Maximilien Luce (Paris, 1858 – 1941) was a French Neo-Impressionist artist, initially influenced by Impressionism, and later inspired by Divisionism, particularly interested in the style of George Seurat. He would go on to adopt a Pointillist approach to painting, as demonstrated in his 1895 work On the Bank of the Seine at Poissy.

His artist career begun as apprentice of the wood engraver Henri-Théophile Hildebrand at the age of 14. Further on, Luce’s alignment with the Neo-Impressionists extended also to their political philosophy of anarchism, realizing illustrations appeared in socialist periodicals. Although he was well-known for depicting landscapes, Luce did not separate life from art. Indeed, he often took up political topics as his subject matter, identifying and sympathizing with the proletariat. At the end of his life, Luce became less politically active and withdrew from anarchist activism, and his style became Impressionist again.