Maximilien Luce (1858-1941)
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Maximilien Luce (1858-1941)

Londres et la Tamise dans la nuit

Details
Maximilien Luce (1858-1941)
Londres et la Tamise dans la nuit
signed, dedicated and dated 'À Mde Cross. Londres 92 Luce' (lower right)
oil on paper
11¾ x 241/8in. (30 x 61cm.)
Executed in 1892
Provenance
Donated by the artist to Mme Henri-Edmond Cross, 1892.
Félix Fénéon, Paris.
His sale, Hôtel Druot, Paris, 4 December 1941, lot 59.
Acquired at the above sale by the parents of the present owner.
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Mme Denise Bazetoux has kindly confirmed the authenticity of the present work, which will be included in the supplement to the catalogue raisonné of Maximilien Luce currently being prepared by her.

The interesting provenance of the this work traces the history of the friendships and intellectual links between the pioneers of the Neo-Impressionist movement. The fan-shaped depiction of the moonlit Thames, bathed in the silver and mauve lights of the London sky, was a gift from the artist to the wife of his friend and colleague Henri-Edmond Cross (see lots 401 and 408). It later became part of the prestigious collection of Félix Fénéon, the Parisian art-critic and supporter of Pointillisme, whom Signac homaged in the infamous portrait of 1890-91 (Portrait de Félix Fénéon, New York, The Museum of Modern Art).

In the spring of 1892, in a moment of financial instability, Maximilien Luce embarked for London with Camille Pissarro. His whole London production, mostly focussed on the representation of the river, veiled by the fog and vapours of the metropolis, is a reflexion upon the use of a palette based on cold hues. His monumental London canvasses, and the preparatory studies of the same date, are built on a subtle fabric of blue, violet, grey and lilac dots, in stark contrast with the chromatic choices of his Saint-Tropez compositions.

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