Louis Abel-Truchet

Louis Abel-Truchet painted the lively side of Belle Époque Paris: dance halls, cafés, busy stations and crowded boulevards, done with loose brushwork and bright colour. He was also a poster artist, and his pictures have the quick, sketch-like energy of someone watching the city at night.

Born in Versailles, he studied at the Académie Julian under Benjamin-Constant and Jules Lefebvre. He showed at the Salon d’Automne from 1903, helped found the Société des Humoristes in 1907 and was made a knight of the Legion of Honour in 1911. During the First World War he served as a volunteer officer and worked in the army’s camouflage section.

His work is held at the Musée Carnavalet in Paris and the Musée de Grenoble. In scenes like A Ball in Paris, look at how a few strokes suggest a whole crowd in motion.