Paul César Helleu Art
French, 1859-1927
Rich impression with dramatic drypoint burr and tone no other artist epitomizes the whole atmosphere of elegance and hedonistic pleasure which pervaded Paris society at the first decade of the century as does Helleu. A close friend of Proust and the inspiration for one of the principal characters in La Recherche du Temps Perdu, Helleu’s whole life style echoed the incomparable elegance and flow of his drawing, the sheer style of his art, and his eye for the poses of the beautiful women who were his friends and his patrons. During the 1870’s, Helleu had come to know the painters of Impressionism and also artists Sargent and Whistler who became his special friends and inspiration. By the early 1880’s, he had already developed the quality of expressive sweeping line, which is the essence of his drawing, but in 1885 he was encouraged by Tissot to try working on prints in drypoint. At this time, Tissot had decided, after the death of his lover and model Kathleen Newton, to travel to the Holy Land on an artistic pilgrimage. Having decided he would no longer engrave, he gave Helleu his diamond stylus…a literal and figurative “passing of the baton”. It was in the incision and texture of drypoint that his art was to reach one of its greatest peaks. He had an innate feel for the balance between a lightly curving stroke and the deeply cut highly tonal burr of the strongest drypoint. Around the turn of the century he started to combine drypoint with multi-inking in colors, the areas of color restricted to such touches as the bows on the hats, the hair color or the red of the lips. The plate was drawn at a single sitting, and then the color inks were brushed onto it. The results are some of the most splendid and decorative of all Belle Époque prints.(Biography provided by Triad Art Group, Inc.)
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Original Drawing "Jeune Femme Assise" by Paul Cesar Helleu, c. 1910
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Hinsdale, IL
HELLEU, PAUL CÉSAR
(1859 -1927)
"JEUNE FEMME ASSISE"
(Young Woman Seated)
Original Drawing in sanguine, white and black chalks, c. 1910
Signed in pencil by artist, lower right
Full M...
Category
Early 20th Century Impressionist Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Chalk, Carbon Pencil
Untitled (Young woman seen from the back)
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Untitled (Young woman seen from the back)
Sanguine crayon, charcola and watercolor on paper, c. 1910
Signed with the estate stamp, Lugt 5169 lower left corner
Provenance:
Estate of ...
Category
Early 1900s Impressionist Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Charcoal
Portrait de femme en buste, de profil a gauche, un tres large ruban noir du cou
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Portrait de femme en buste, de profil a gauche, un tres large ruban noir du cou, Mme Marthe Letellier
Drypoint, 1900-1901
Signed in pencil lower left (see photo)
Titled in pencil low...
Category
Early 1900s Impressionist Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Drypoint
Tea at the Ritz, New York
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Tea at the Ritz, New York
Colored chalk, 1912
Signed with the estate stamp verso. (see photo)
Authenticated by the artist's daughter, Mme Paulette Johnston.
Image size: 10 5/8 x 10 1...
Category
1920s Art Nouveau Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Chalk
Profile of a Woman - Etching
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Paris, FR
Paul César Helleu
Profile of a Woman, 1913
Etching
Printed signature
On vellum 26 x 20 cm (c. 10.5 x 8 inch)
Very good condition, light defects at the edge of the sheet
Category
1890s Art Nouveau Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Etching
"Dame a la Toque", fabulous drypoint etching by Paul Cesar Helleu
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Hinsdale, IL
HELLEU, PAUL CÉSAR
(1859 - 1927)
"La Dame a la Toque"
(Lady in Fur Hat)
Montesquiou XXXVI, c. 1906
Drypoint printed in colors on pale cream wove paper
Signed in black crayon lower ...
Category
Early 20th Century Post-Impressionist Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Drypoint
original drypoint
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: original etching and drypoint in black, red and brown. This beautiful composition is printed on wove paper (date of printing unknown). Plate size: 7 5/8 x 5 1/2 inches (195 x...
Category
Early 1900s Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Drypoint, Etching
Helleu, Watercolor Lithograph, Portrait of Mme Chéruit, Early 20th Century
By Paul César Helleu
Located in MARSEILLE, FR
Watercolor lithograph presenting the portrait of Madame Chéruit, by the artist Paul César Helleu
Madame Chéruit was one of the first women to run a fashion house in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century, Place Vendôme. Her taste and refinement were recognized internationally, and she dressed many clients, including our artist's wife, Paul-César Helleu; this one has represented Mme Chéruet on many occasions
Paul César Helleu (1859-1927) is a French painter and engraver; he entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1876, in the studio of Jean-Léon Gérôme, but more attracted by outdoor painting, he became the friend of Claude Monet, Giovanni Boldini, among others. From his very important career, we note his beginnings with the ceramist Theodore Deck, for whom he created decorations for dishes; his many portraits of Parisian High Society, elegant women; his exhibitions of non-standard paintings at the Salon des Artistes with Les Grandes Eaux du Bassin de Latone; the decoration of the starry vault...
Category
Early 20th Century French Art Nouveau Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Paper
Miss Taylor
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Miss Taylor
Drypoint, c. 1900
Signed in pencil lower left (see photo)
Small edition, about 10
Very rich impression, full of burr
Condition: Excellent
Image size: 21-1/4 x 13-1/4"
Sheet size: 25 3/8 x 18 5/8"
Reference: Montesquiou XII
Paul César Helleu was born in Vannes, Brittany, France. His father, who was a customs inspector, died when Helleu was in his teens. Despite opposition from his mother, he then went to Paris and studied at Lycée Chaptal. In 1876, at age 16, he was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts, beginning academic training in art with Jean-Léon Gérôme. Helleu attended the Second Impressionist Exhibition in the same year, and made his first acquaintances with John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, and Claude Monet. He was struck by their modern, bold alla prima technique and outdoor scenes, so far removed from the studio. Following graduation, Helleu took a job with the firm Théodore Deck Ceramique Française hand-painting fine decorative plates. At this same time, he met Giovanni Boldini, a portrait painter with a facile, bravura style, who became a mentor and comrade, and strongly influenced his future artistic style.
When he was 18 years old, Helleu established a close friendship with John Singer Sargent, four years his senior, that was to last his lifetime. Already becoming established, Sargent was receiving commissions for his work. Helleu had not sold anything, and was deeply discouraged almost to the point of abandoning his studies. When Sargent heard this, he went to Helleu and picked one of his paintings, praising his technique. Flattered that Sargent would praise his work, he offered to give it to him. Sargent replied, "I shall gladly accept this, Helleu, but not as a gift. I sell my own pictures, and I know what they cost me by the time they are out of my hand. I should never enjoy this pastel if I hadn't paid you a fair and honest price for it." With this he paid him a thousand-franc note.
Helleu was commissioned in 1884 to paint a portrait of a young woman named Alice Guérin (1870–1933). They fell in love, and married on 28 July 1886. Throughout their lives together, she was his favourite model. Charming, refined and graceful, she helped introduce them to the aristocratic circles of Paris, where they became popular fixtures.
On a trip to London with Jacques-Émile Blanche in 1885, Helleu met Whistler again and visited other prominent artists. His introduction to James Jacques Tissot, an accomplished society painter from France who made his career in England, proved a revelation. In Tissot, Helleu saw, for the first time, the possibilities of drypoint etching with a diamond point stylus directly on a copper plate. Helleu quickly became a virtuoso of the technique, drawing with the same dynamic and sophisticated freedom with his stylus as with his pastels. His prints were very well received, and they had the added advantage that a sitter could have several proofs printed to give to relations or friends. Over the course of his career, Helleu produced more than 2,000 drypoint prints.
Soon, Helleu was displaying works to much acclaim at several galleries. Degas encouraged him to submit paintings to the Eighth Impressionist Exhibition in May and June 1886. The show was installed in a Paris apartment at 1 rue Laffitte, which ran concurrently with the official Salon that year to make a statement. Although 17 artists joined the famous exhibit that included the first Neo-Impressionistic works, Helleu, like Monet, refused to participate.
Paul Helleu Sketching with His Wife (1889), by John Singer Sargent, The Brooklyn Museum, New York
In 1886, Helleu befriended Robert de Montesquiou, the poet and aesthete, who bought six of his drypoints to add to his large print collection. Montesquiou later wrote a book about Helleu that was published in 1913 with reproductions of 100 of his prints and drawings. This volume remains the definitive biography of Helleu. Montesquiou introduced Helleu to Parisian literary salons, where he met Marcel Proust, who also became a friend. Proust created a literary picture of Helleu in his novel Remembrance of Things Past as the painter Elstir. (Later, Helleu engraved a well-known portrait of Proust on his deathbed.) Montesquiou's cousin, the Countess Greffulhe, enabled Helleu to expand his career as a portrait artist to elegant women in the highest ranks of Paris society, portraits that provide the basis for his modern reputation. His subjects included the Duchess of Marlborough, the Marchesa Casati...
Category
Early 1900s Art Nouveau Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Drypoint
Portrait de petite fille, en buste, cheveux sur les epaules (Ellen 14 ans)
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Portrait de petite fille, en buste, cheveux sur les epaules (Ellen 14 ans) Portrait of a little girl, bust, hair on shoulders)
Drypoint, 1902
Signed lower right corner
Very small edition
Portrait of the artist's daughter Ellen, at age 14.
Title inscribed into the plate upper left
Brilliant impression full of burr
No stated edition, proofs only, less than 10 imps
Unidnetified collector's mark verso: Initials "PH", not in Lugt
Reference: Laran, IFF No. 390
Condition: Excellent
Image/Plate eize: 14 3/4 x 12 5/8 inches
Sheet size: 25 x 16 inches
"Paul César Helleu was born in Vannes, Brittany, France. His father, who was a customs inspector, died when Helleu was in his teens. Despite opposition from his mother, he then went to Paris and studied at Lycée Chaptal. In 1876, at age 16, he was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts, beginning academic training in art with Jean-Léon Gérôme. Helleu attended the Second Impressionist Exhibition in the same year, and made his first acquaintances with John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, and Claude Monet. He was struck by their modern, bold alla prima technique and outdoor scenes, so far removed from the studio. Following graduation, Helleu took a job with the firm Théodore Deck Ceramique Française hand-painting fine decorative plates. At this same time, he met Giovanni Boldini, a portrait painter with a facile, bravura style, who became a mentor and comrade, and strongly influenced his future artistic style.
When he was 18 years old, Helleu established a close friendship with John Singer Sargent, four years his senior, that was to last his lifetime. Already becoming established, Sargent was receiving commissions for his work. Helleu had not sold anything, and was deeply discouraged almost to the point of abandoning his studies. When Sargent heard this, he went to Helleu and picked one of his paintings, praising his technique. Flattered that Sargent would praise his work, he offered to give it to him. Sargent replied, "I shall gladly accept this, Helleu, but not as a gift. I sell my own pictures, and I know what they cost me by the time they are out of my hand. I should never enjoy this pastel if I hadn't paid you a fair and honest price for it." With this he paid him a thousand-franc note.
Helleu was commissioned in 1884 to paint a portrait of a young woman named Alice Guérin (1870–1933). They fell in love, and married on 28 July 1886. Throughout their lives together, she was his favourite model. Charming, refined and graceful, she helped introduce them to the aristocratic circles of Paris, where they became popular fixtures.
On a trip to London with Jacques-Émile Blanche in 1885, Helleu met Whistler again and visited other prominent artists. His introduction to James Jacques Tissot, an accomplished society painter from France who made his career in England, proved a revelation. In Tissot, Helleu saw, for the first time, the possibilities of drypoint etching with a diamond point stylus directly on a copper plate. Helleu quickly became a virtuoso of the technique, drawing with the same dynamic and sophisticated freedom with his stylus as with his pastels. His prints were very well received, and they had the added advantage that a sitter could have several proofs printed to give to relations or friends. Over the course of his career, Helleu produced more than 2,000 drypoint prints.
Soon, Helleu was displaying works to much acclaim at several galleries. Degas encouraged him to submit paintings to the Eighth Impressionist Exhibition in May and June 1886. The show was installed in a Paris apartment at 1 rue Laffitte, which ran concurrently with the official Salon that year to make a statement. Although 17 artists joined the famous exhibit that included the first Neo-Impressionistic works, Helleu, like Monet, refused to participate.
Paul Helleu Sketching with His Wife (1889), by John Singer Sargent, The Brooklyn Museum, New York
In 1886, Helleu befriended Robert de Montesquiou, the poet and aesthete, who bought six of his drypoints to add to his large print collection. Montesquiou later wrote a book about Helleu that was published in 1913 with reproductions of 100 of his prints and drawings. This volume remains the definitive biography of Helleu. Montesquiou introduced Helleu to Parisian literary salons, where he met Marcel Proust, who also became a friend. Proust created a literary picture of Helleu in his novel Remembrance of Things Past as the painter Elstir. (Later, Helleu engraved a well-known portrait of Proust on his deathbed.) Montesquiou's cousin, the Countess Greffulhe, enabled Helleu to expand his career as a portrait artist to elegant women in the highest ranks of Paris society, portraits that provide the basis for his modern reputation. His subjects included the Duchess of Marlborough, the Marchesa Casati, Belle da Costa Greene, Louise Chéruit, and Helena Rubinstein.
Looking for new inspiration, Helleu began a series of paintings and color prints of cathedrals and stained glass windows in 1893, followed by flower studies and landscapes of parks in Versailles. Helleu took up sailing, owning four yachts over his life. Ships, harbor views, life at port in Deauville, and women in their fashionable seaside attire became subjects for many vivid and spirited works.
In 1904, Helleu was awarded the Légion d'honneur and became one of the most celebrated artists of the Edwardian era in both Paris and London. He was an honorary member in important beaux-arts societies, including the International Society of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers, headed by Auguste Rodin, and the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts.
On his second trip to the United States in 1912, Helleu was awarded the commission to design was the ceiling decoration in New York City's Grand Central Terminal. He decided on a mural of a blue-green night...
Category
Early 1900s Art Nouveau Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Drypoint
Jeune Femme Cousant; Madame Helleu (Young Woman Sewing, artist's wife)
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Middletown, NY
Paris: Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1892.
Etching and dry point on cream laid paper. 7 9/16 x 5 7/8 inches (191 x 148 mm), full margins. Signed in pencil, lower right margin. A dark, ink...
Category
Late 19th Century Realist Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Drypoint, Etching
"Portrait of Madame Georges Menier" By Helleu
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Hinsdale, IL
HELLEU, PAUL CÉSAR
(1859 - 1927)
MADAME GEORGES MENIER
Montesquiou XXI
Drypoint in colors, c. 1900
Signed in pencil, lower right
Printed on wove paper
Full Margins
22 1/4” x 13...
Category
Early 19th Century Art Nouveau Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Etching, Drypoint
Shy Red Hair Woman - Lithograph
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Paris, FR
Paul César Helleu
Shy Red Hair Woman, 1913
Lithograph and watercolor stencil
Printed signature
On vellum 26 x 20 cm (c. 10.5 x 8 inch)
Very good condi...
Category
1890s Art Nouveau Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Lithograph
"Dame a la Toque", fabulous drypoint etching by Paul Cesar Helleu
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Hinsdale, IL
HELLEU, PAUL CÉSAR
(1859 - 1927)
"La Dame a la Toque"
(Lady in Fur Hat)
Drypoint printed in colors on pale cream wove paper, c. 1906
Signed in black crayo...
Category
Early 20th Century Post-Impressionist Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Drypoint
Original Drawing "Jeune Femme Assise" by Paul Cesar Helleu, c. 1910
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Hinsdale, IL
HELLEU, PAUL CÉSAR
(1859 -1927)
"JEUNE FEMME ASSISE"
(Young Woman Seated)
Original Drawing in sanguine, white and black chalks, c. 1910
Signed in pencil by artist, lower right
Full Margins on cream wove paperImage size: 17.5” x 11.02”
Paul César Helleu...
Category
Early 20th Century Impressionist Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Chalk
"Dame a la Toque", fabulous drypoint etching by Paul Cesar Helleu
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Hinsdale, IL
HELLEU, PAUL CÉSAR
(1859 - 1927)
"La Dame a la Toque"
(Lady in Fur Hat)
Montesquiou XXXVI, c. 1906
Drypoint printed in colors on pale cream wove paper
Sig...
Category
Early 20th Century Post-Impressionist Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Drypoint
La femme aux fleurs (Portrait de Mathilde See)
By Paul César Helleu
Located in New Orleans, LA
Paul César Helleu is regarded among the most sought-after society portraitists of his era, and his Belle Époque works rival those of his contemporaries John Singer Sargent and Giovanni Boldini. He is best remembered for capturing the era's most beautiful socialites, including Consuelo Vanderbilt, the Duchess of Marlborough, the Comtesse de Loriol Chandieu and the Comtesse Mathieu de Noailles, among others. This work, however, stands out in that it captures the charming likeness of one of his art world cohorts, Mathilde See, a Parisian-born decorator and painter of floral still lifes. She is the essence of the modern woman, captured in her fashionable dress as she strolls along the flower-lined streets of Paris.
Commanding in size, Portrait de Mathilde See fully displays Helleu's mastery over the medium of pastel. The muted palette of greys and blues is typical of the artist, bringing a harmony and cohesiveness to the composition. Furthermore, Helleu cleverly alludes to See's own artistic output with a backdrop of vibrant floral blooms, enlivening the canvas and complementing the greens and blues of the peacock feather adorning her hat.
The portrait is all the more significant thanks to its provenance. It was previously in the collection of A. Alfred Taubman, one of America's most successful entrepreneurs and one-time owner of Sotheby's. Considering Taubman encountered some of the most noteworthy and beautiful works of art ever made through his auction house, the fact that he chose this portrait by Helleu to grace his collection is a testament to its import.
Born in Brittany in 1859, Helleu moved to Paris in 1876 in order to study at the École des Beaux-Arts. Like so many other artists of his generation, he was trained there under the Academic master Jean-Léon Gérôme. That same year, he also attended the Second Impressionist Exhibition...
Category
20th Century Modern Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Linen, Pastel
Madame Helleu Looking at Watteau drawings at the Louvre..
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Storrs, CT
Madame Helleu Looking at Watteau drawings at the Louvre. (En regardant les Watteau de Louvre). c. 1895. Drypoint printed in 2 colors - black and sepia. 11 3/4 x 15 7/8. Goncourt 3, d...
Category
Late 19th Century Impressionist Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Drypoint, Color
La Duchesse de Marlborough, Consuelo Vanderbilt
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Storrs, CT
Paul César Helleu. La Duchesse de Marlborough, Consuelo Vanderbilt. c. 1901. Drypoint. 21 1/2 x 13 3/4 (sheet 24 x 15). A rich impression printed o...
Category
Late 19th Century Modern Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Drypoint, Etching
"Madame Georges Menier" Portrait, by Paul Cesar Helleu
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Hinsdale, IL
HELLEU, PAUL CÉSAR
(1859 -1927)
"MADAME GEORGES MENIER"
Montesquiou XXI
Drypoint in colors, c. 1900
Signed in pencil, lower right
Printed on wove paper
Full...
Category
Early 20th Century Art Nouveau Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Drypoint
"Fillette Assise de Profil a Gauche" (Mlle. P), Paul Cesar Helleu
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Hinsdale, IL
HELLEU, PAUL CÉSAR
(1859 -1927)
"Fillette Assise de Profil àGauche (Mlle. P)
(Profile of a Seated Girl to the left)
Drypoint in colors, c. 1895
Signed in pe...
Category
1890s Abstract Impressionist Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Drypoint
Portrait of Whistler with the Monacle.
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Storrs, CT
Portrait of Whistler with the Monacle. 1897. Drypoint. 13 3/4 x 10 1/4 (sheet 16 3/4 x 11 5/8). A carefully wiped impression with plate tone, from the cancelled plate (there were onl...
Category
19th Century Impressionist Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Drypoint
Girl With a Bow
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Wiscasset, ME
Born in Vannes, France in 1859, artist Paul César Helleu studied at the Lycée Chaptal and at sixteen, was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris where he trained under Jean-Lé...
Category
Early 1900s Impressionist Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Mixed Media
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By Paul César Helleu
Located in PARIS, FR
This sumptuous dish, inspired by the bellas of the Italian Renaissance, is a testimony to the fruitful cooperation that began in 1882 between the ceramist Théodore Beck and the young artist Paul Helleu, before the latter became the fashionable portraitist of feminine elegance. This portrait, probably made after a photograph, could be inspired by Alice Louis-Guérin, the woman who became his wife in 1886.
1. Paul Helleu
In 1913 Robert de Montesquiou wrote in his book devoted to the painter: "Helleu was born in Vannes in 1859, of a Breton father and a Parisian mother". He hardly knew his father, who died when he was three years old, and was brought up entirely by his mother, who sent him to continue his studies at the Lycée Chaptal in Paris in 1873.
The discovery of Edouard Manet's Chemin de Fer at the 1874 Salon is reported to be at the origin of his artistic vocation. He worked against his mother's wishes in the studio of the painter Gérôme, also frequented by the painters Giovanni Boldini, Jean-Louis Forain and Antonio de La Gandara. Helleu became friends with John Singer Sargent, with whom he shared a studio for some time, as well as with Claude Monet (1840 - 1926) and Jacques Blanche (1861 - 1942), who accompanied him on a trip to England during which he met the painters Whistler and James Tissot.
When his mother cut off his pension to divert him from painting, Helleu worked in the workshop of the ceramist Théodore Deck, where he decorated ornamental ceramic medallions with women’s faces to pay for his studies at the Paris School of Fine Arts.
In 1884, the Louis-Guérin household commissioned him to paint a portrait of their daughter Alice, aged 14, which was to appear in the Salon of 1885 . Helleu fell madly in love with his model and wished to marry her. Her parents agreed to the wedding subject to three conditions: that it should only take place when Alice turned 16 (!), that she should finish her studies and that the newlyweds should live with them for two years.
From 1886 onwards, a series of happy events and successes followed: his marriage, followed by the birth of his first daughter Ellen in 1887, the participation in the Pastelists' Salon and the first exhibition of his drypoints in New York in 1889. His friendship with Robert de Montesquiou, whom he met in 1887, opened him the doors of the Parisian aristocracy. In 1891 he painted a series of portraits of Montesquiou’s cousin, the Countess Greffulhe, before meeting Marcel Proust in 1895, also thanks to Montesquiou. Proust took much of his inspiration from Helleu for the character of the painter Elstir in A la Recherche du Temps Perdu, a character whose name is said to be a clever alchemy between the names of Helleu and Whistler.
Helleu by then was at the peak of his art and multiplied female portraits, alternating between drypoint, pastels, three-colour pencil drawings whose technique had been inspired by Watteau's, and oil paintings. Commissions for his women’s portraits came from the Parisian High Society as well as from England and the United States, allowing the painter to choose his models.
In parallel to this career as a portrait painter, Helleu produced two large series of paintings concomitantly to Claude Monet's own artistic researches. Since their meeting in 1876, Monet had become a great friend of Helleu (despite an age difference of almost twenty years), and Helleu was one of the two witnesses (the other being the painter Gustave Caillebotte) when Monet, having become a widower, remarried Alice Hoschedé in 1892.
Helleu’s first series was the Cathedrals series, which he began in 1892. While Monet worked in front of the Rouen Cathedral, scrutinising from a fixed point the play of light on the portal, hour after hour and day after day, Helleu was interested in the representation of the cathedrals’ interiors and in particular in the diffusion of light from the stained-glass panels. In 1894 he began outdoor paintings in the park of Versailles. In the description of our painting, we will see how this series can be related to Monet's Water Lilies.
Thanks to his success, Helleu became a real dandy and devoted himself to his passion for yachting. His taste in interior decoration had a lasting influence, since it was Helleu who came up with the idea of abandoning the dark decorations...
Category
1880s Art Nouveau Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Enamel
Signed Paul Cesar Helleu, 'Une Elegante'. Crayon, Pencil & Ink on Paper
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Hudson, NY
Paul Cesar Helleu (French, 1859-1927). 'Une Elegante'. Crayon, pencil & ink on paper. Signed lower left. Paul Cesar Helleu was known for his styli...
Category
Early 20th Century Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Paper
Ellen de profil a gauche
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Ellen de profil a gauche
Drypoint, c. 1895
Signed in pencil lower right (see photo)
Annotated "1e epreuve" or 1st proof lower left (see photo)
A very rich impression with burr
This image depicts the artist's daughter in profile.
With an unidentified collector's mark "P.H." on the verso
Reference: Not in IFF, extremely rare
Condition: Excellent
Plate size: 13 1/4 x 12 inches
Frame size: 25 3/4 x 22 3/4 inches
Paul César Helleu was born in Vannes, Brittany, France. His father, who was a customs inspector, died when Helleu was in his teens. Despite opposition from his mother, he then went to Paris and studied at Lycée Chaptal. In 1876, at age 16, he was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts, beginning academic training in art with Jean-Léon Gérôme. Helleu attended the Second Impressionist Exhibition in the same year, and made his first acquaintances with John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, and Claude Monet. He was struck by their modern, bold alla prima technique and outdoor scenes, so far removed from the studio. Following graduation, Helleu took a job with the firm Théodore Deck Ceramique Française hand-painting fine decorative plates. At this same time, he met Giovanni Boldini, a portrait painter with a facile, bravura style, who became a mentor and comrade, and strongly influenced his future artistic style.
When he was 18 years old, Helleu established a close friendship with John Singer Sargent, four years his senior, that was to last his lifetime. Already becoming established, Sargent was receiving commissions for his work. Helleu had not sold anything, and was deeply discouraged almost to the point of abandoning his studies. When Sargent heard this, he went to Helleu and picked one of his paintings, praising his technique. Flattered that Sargent would praise his work, he offered to give it to him. Sargent replied, "I shall gladly accept this, Helleu, but not as a gift. I sell my own pictures, and I know what they cost me by the time they are out of my hand. I should never enjoy this pastel if I hadn't paid you a fair and honest price for it." With this he paid him a thousand-franc note.
Helleu was commissioned in 1884 to paint a portrait of a young woman named Alice Guérin (1870–1933). They fell in love, and married on 28 July 1886. Throughout their lives together, she was his favourite model. Charming, refined and graceful, she helped introduce them to the aristocratic circles of Paris, where they became popular fixtures.
On a trip to London with Jacques-Émile Blanche in 1885, Helleu met Whistler again and visited other prominent artists. His introduction to James Jacques Tissot, an accomplished society painter from France who made his career in England, proved a revelation. In Tissot, Helleu saw, for the first time, the possibilities of drypoint etching with a diamond point stylus directly on a copper plate. Helleu quickly became a virtuoso of the technique, drawing with the same dynamic and sophisticated freedom with his stylus as with his pastels. His prints were very well received, and they had the added advantage that a sitter could have several proofs printed to give to relations or friends. Over the course of his career, Helleu produced more than 2,000 drypoint prints.
Soon, Helleu was displaying works to much acclaim at several galleries. Degas encouraged him to submit paintings to the Eighth Impressionist Exhibition in May and June 1886. The show was installed in a Paris apartment at 1 rue Laffitte, which ran concurrently with the official Salon that year to make a statement. Although 17 artists joined the famous exhibit that included the first Neo-Impressionistic works, Helleu, like Monet, refused to participate.
Paul Helleu Sketching with His Wife (1889), by John Singer Sargent, The Brooklyn Museum, New York
In 1886, Helleu befriended Robert de Montesquiou, the poet and aesthete, who bought six of his drypoints to add to his large print collection. Montesquiou later wrote a book about Helleu that was published in 1913 with reproductions of 100 of his prints and drawings. This volume remains the definitive biography of Helleu. Montesquiou introduced Helleu to Parisian literary salons, where he met Marcel Proust, who also became a friend. Proust created a literary picture of Helleu in his novel Remembrance of Things Past as the painter Elstir. (Later, Helleu engraved a well-known portrait of Proust on his deathbed.) Montesquiou's cousin, the Countess Greffulhe, enabled Helleu to expand his career as a portrait artist to elegant women in the highest ranks of Paris society, portraits that provide the basis for his modern reputation. His subjects included the Duchess of Marlborough, the Marchesa Casati...
Category
1890s Impressionist Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Drypoint
Portrait of Woman in a Hat
By Paul César Helleu
Located in San Francisco, CA
Original drypoint printed in black ink on heavy wove paper.
Hand-signed in pencil within the platemark lower right Helleu.
A superb impression of the only known state of this rar...
Category
20th Century Victorian Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Drypoint
Nu Endormi; Reclining Nude drawing
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Greenwich, CT
This is a rare. large and elegant nude by one of the most noted of the Belle Epoque French artists. Helleu was primarily a works on paper artist who preferred drawing to painting. ...
Category
1890s French School Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Conté, Archival Paper, Graphite
Le Duet
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Los Angeles, CA
PAUL CÉSAR HELLEU
Le Duet.
Color chalks and pencil on tan wove paper, circa 1900. 653x500 mm; 25 3/4x19 3/4 inches.
Signed in pencil, lower right recto.
Framed size: 36.5 x 31 x 1....
Category
Early 20th Century Expressionist Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Pencil, Chalk
Autumn in Versailles - painting by Paul César Helleu an Impressionist Painter
By Paul César Helleu
Located in PARIS, FR
This tondo was executed by Helleu around 1895 in autumn leave colours. It was painted in close proximity to Monet at a time when he was about to revolutionise painting with the Water Lilies (Nymphéas). This painting reveals a little-known yet tremendously innovative aspect of Helleu’s work.
1. Paul Helleu
In 1913 Robert de Montesquiou wrote in his book devoted to the painter: "Helleu was born in Vannes in 1859, of a Breton father and a Parisian mother". He hardly knew his father, who died when he was three years old, and was brought up entirely by his mother, who sent him to continue his studies at the Lycée Chaptal in Paris in 1873.
His discovery of Edouard Manet's Chemin de Fer at the 1874 Salon is reported to be at the origin of his artistic vocation. He worked against his mother's wishes in the studio of the painter Gérôme, also frequented by the painters Giovanni Boldini, Jean-Louis Forain and Antonio de La Gandara. Helleu became friends with John Singer Sargent, with whom he shared a studio for some time, as well as with Claude Monet (1840 - 1926) and Jacques Blanche (1861 - 1942), who accompanied him on a trip to England during which he met the painters Whistler and James Tissot.
When his mother cut off his pension to divert him from painting, Helleu worked in the workshop of the ceramist Théodore Beck, where he decorated ornamental ceramic medallions with women’s faces to pay for his studies at the Paris School of Fine Arts.
In 1884, the Louis-Guérin household commissioned him to paint a portrait of their daughter Alice, aged 14, which was to appear in the Salon of 1885 . Helleu fell madly in love with his model and wished to marry her. Her parents agreed to the wedding subject to three conditions: that it should only take place when Alice turned 16 (!), that she should finish her studies and that the newlyweds should live with them for two years.
From 1886 onwards, a series of happy events and successes followed: his marriage, followed by the birth of his first daughter Ellen in 1887, the participation in the Pastelists' Salon and the first exhibition of his drypoints in New York in 1889. His friendship with Robert de Montesquiou, whom he met in 1887, opened him the doors of the Parisian aristocracy. In 1891 he painted a series of portraits of Montesquiou’s cousin, the Countess Greffulhe, before meeting Marcel Proust in 1895, also thanks to Montesquiou. Proust took much of his inspiration from Helleu for the character of the painter Elstir in A la Recherche du Temps Perdu, a character whose name is said to be a clever alchemy between the names of Helleu and Whistler.
Helleu by then was at the peak of his art and multiplied female portraits, alternating between drypoint, pastels, three-colour pencil drawings whose technique had been inspired by Watteau's, and oil paintings. Commissions for his women’s portraits came from the Parisian High Society as well as from England and the United States, allowing the painter to choose his models.
In parallel to this career as a portrait painter, Helleu produced two large series of paintings concomitantly to Claude Monet's own artistic researches. Since their meeting in 1876, Monet had become a great friend of Helleu (despite an age difference of almost twenty years), and Helleu was one of the two witnesses (the other being the painter Gustave Caillebotte) when Monet, having become a widower, remarried Alice Hoschedé in 1892.
Helleu’s first series was the Cathedrals series, which he began in 1892. While Monet worked in front of the Rouen Cathedral, scrutinising from a fixed point the play of light on the portal, hour after hour and day after day, Helleu was interested in the representation of the cathedrals’ interiors and in particular in the diffusion of light from the stained-glass panels. In 1894 he began outdoor paintings in the park of Versailles. In the description of our painting, we will see how this series can be related to Monet's Water Lilies.
Thanks to his success, Helleu became a real dandy and devoted himself to his passion for yachting. His taste in interior decoration had a lasting influence, since it was Helleu who came up with the idea of abandoning the dark decorations...
Category
1890s Impressionist Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Oil
Shy Red Hair Woman - Lithograph
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Paris, FR
Paul César Helleu
Shy Red Hair Woman, 1913
Lithograph and watercolor stencil
Printed signature
On vellum 26 x 20 cm (c. 10.5 x 8 inch)
Very good condi...
Category
1890s Art Nouveau Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Lithograph
Profile of a Woman - Etching
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Paris, FR
Paul César Helleu
Profile of a Woman, 1913
Etching
Printed signature
On vellum 26 x 20 cm (c. 10.5 x 8 inch)
Very good condition, light defects at the edge of the sheet
Category
1890s Art Nouveau Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Etching
Shy Red Hair Woman - Lithograph
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Paris, FR
Paul César Helleu
Shy Red Hair Woman, 1913
Litograph and watercolor stencil
Printed signature
On vellum 26 x 20 cm (c. 10.5 x 8 inch)
Very good condition
Category
1890s Art Nouveau Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Lithograph
"FEMME AUX CHEVEUX ROUX DE PROFIL", (Profile of a Woman with Red Hair)
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Hinsdale, IL
HELLEU, PAUL CÉSAR
(1859 - 1927)
"FEMME AUX CHEVEUX ROUX DE PROFIL",
(Profile of a Woman with Red Hair)
Color Drypoint on wove paper ca. 1907
Signed and numbered “36” in pencil, l...
Category
Early 1900s Art Nouveau Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Etching
H 38.75 in W 32.5 in D 2 in
Le Noeud Bleu (The Hat with the Blue Bow).
By Paul César Helleu
Located in Storrs, CT
Le Noeud Bleu (The Hat with the Blue Bow). c. 1905. Drypoint printed in four colors (black, brown, blue, red). Montesquieu 40. 21 x 13 (sheet 21/1/4 x 13 1/4). Edition 80. A fine im...
Category
Early 1900s Art Nouveau Paul César Helleu Art
Materials
Color, Drypoint
Paul César Helleu art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Paul César Helleu art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Paul César Helleu in drypoint, engraving, etching and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the Impressionist style. Not every interior allows for large Paul César Helleu art, so small editions measuring 6 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Adolphe Willette, Eugene Grasset, and Lucien Levy-Dhurmer. Paul César Helleu art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $323 and tops out at $425,000, while the average work can sell for $6,500.