Lucien Roudier Eller
1894-1940

Lucien Roudier was born in Marseilles; he worked under the name Eller.
Eller lived most of his life in Marseilles; his works depict the life of this large Mediterranean port city. Nightlife, street life, the elegant nightclubs, sailor bars, prostitutes, and Gypsy street musicians were among his favorite subjects.

Eller was a laureate of l’École des Beaux-Arts de Marseille. He was a member of Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts.

His style and technique was purely modern in the tradition of Von Dongen and Rouault. His imagery is powerful; his expressive style captures the romantic and the desperate. His first paintings appeared around 1914. When he came to Paris after World War One he witnessed the Jazz bars with the Black musicians, circuses, and nightclubs, these became the direction of his artistic adventure.

Eller exhibited at Galerie Devambez in Paris, the Salons des Indépendants, and at the Salon Humoristes.

Maybe because he died at such a young age, possibly in World War Two, his work fell into obscurity, but in 1956 a collection of more than seventy paintings, gouaches and watercolors were sold at auction in Nice. Paul Reboux wrote the preface of the sale. Since then sophisticated collectors and dealers have been aware of his work.