LOUIS ABEL-TRUCHET  (French 1857-1918)

Louis Abel-Truchet was born in Versailles in 1857. Sometimes he is called simply Abel Truchet. Until 1890 Truchet was a shopkeeper. He then enrolled at the Académie Julian to study under Jules Lefebvre and Jean Benjamin-Constant. From 1891 Louis Abel-Truchet began to exhibit his work at various Salons, including the Salon d'Automne, the Salon des Humoristes, the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-arts (of which he was a member from 1910), and the Salon des Artistes Français. Louis Abel-Truchet worked in an Impressionist style, and his favourite subjects were scenes of Montmartre life - café-concerts, the Place Pigalle, the Cirque Médrano, the Folies-Bergère and the Moulin Rouge, the Bal des Quat'Z-Arts. On the outbreak of the First World War, Louis Abel-Truchet volunteered for military service, despite being already 57 years old. He fought all through the war, as a lieutenant in a camouflage unit in the 1st Régiment du Génie, winning the Croix de Guerre and the Légion d'Honneur (which he already held as a civilian). On 9 September 1918 Louis Abel-Truchet was killed in action, at the age of 61. Two of his paintings were shown at the exhibition of artists 'mort pour la Patrie' at the Salon d'Automne in 1919. After his death his wife Julia took up painting, becoming a member of the Salon d'Automne and concentrating like her late husband on the everyday life of Montmartre.