A student of the Orientalist painter Benjamin Constant and the French academic painter Jules Lefebre at the Académie Julian in Paris, Louis Abel-Truchet is hailed as a prominent figure of the teeming art world of Paris in the latter half of the 19th century. From 1891 onwards this young artist exhibited his work at various Salons, including the Salon d'Automne, the Salon des Humoristes (of which he was one of the founders), the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts (of which he was a member from 1910), and the Salon des Artistes Français.
Abel-Truchet was a prominent figure in the art world of Paris who played an important role at the Salon d'Automne, La Société des Humoristes and the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. Though Abel-Truchet did many depictions of the shows at the Moulin Rouges and night scenes of the Folies Bergère and the Cirque Médrano, his work reflected the liveliness of Paris' streets and cafes without the harsh judgement or satire that his contemporary Toulouse-Lautrec often depicted.
With the outbreak of World War I, fifty-seven-year-old Abel-Truchet volunteered for the French Army commanding a unit of the First Regiment du Genie responsible for camouflage, a position which ultimately cost him his life. Abel-Truchet was posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre for his contributions and was honored in 1919 at an exposition of artists that had perished in the war. He was also feted at the Salon d’Automne that same year.
Private collection Paris until 2014
Art Curial, Paris, April 2014
Salon d'Automne (founder & treasurer)
Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts
La Société des Humoristes