Large Paul Cesar Helleu (attributed signed H Helleu), 'Une Elegante'. Crayon. Pencil & Ink painting on Paper, circa early 1900's
Signed H Helleu LL and attributed to Paul Cesar Helleu (French, 1859-1927). 'Une Elegante'. Crayon, pencil & ink painting on paper, circa early 1900's. Depicting a seated woman wearing a black hat. Signed lower left. Provenance: Collection of Pauline Cave, Blanche Fabry Teze Fine Arts, Inc., new york. Private collection, Aventura, Florida.

Paul Cesar Helleu was known for his stylized art nouveau and art deco portraits and scenes of society women. Paul César Helleu, born in brittany, france, studied at lycée chaptal in paris. 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. 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. They fell in love, and married on 28 July 1886. Throughout their lives together, she was his favorite 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, he saw 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, he produced more than 2,000 drypoint prints. Looking for new inspiration, he 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. In 1904, he 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 the ceiling decoration in new york city's grand central terminal. He decided on a mural of a blue-green night sky covered by the starry signs of the zodiac that cross the milky way. Although the astrological design was widely admired, the ceiling was covered in the 1930's. It was completely restored in 1998. Among many of his friends was also Coco Chanel, who chose beige as her signature colour upon on his advice - the colour of the sand on the beach of biarritz in early morning. Both his son Jean Helleu and his grandson Jacques Helleu became artistic directors for Parfums Chanel.
Sheet size - 28 1/2" high x 23" wide. Frame: 40 1/2" x 34 1/2" wide frame.

Very good, pale staining primarily visible in upper left quadrant, some scattered pale foxmarks. Frame: Very good, aside from minor wear. Framed with plexiglass.