Actress Marguerite Labady, seated, with a muff, drypoint etching made approx. 1900 by Paul César Helleu. Size: 57,2 x 34,3 cm. Mentioning the name Helleu brings to mind the era of the Belle Époque and its the fashionable society from the end of the 19th century to the First World War. Paul César Helleu (1859-1927) initially apprenticed as a ceramic worker and also took drawing lessons. In 1876, after the death of his father, he went to Paris against his mother's wishes to study at the École des Beaux-Arts. He entered impressionist circles and met famous artists such as Henri Matisse, Edgar Degas, Robert de Montesquiou, James Jacques Tissot and Giovanni Boldini. In 1884 Helleu was commissioned to portray the beautiful young aristocratic woman Alice Guérin. Two years later she would become his wife. Alice then introduced him to the highest circles, where he became one of the most popular portrait painters of the Parisian beau monde. Helleu's style, characterized by feminine grace and sophistication, was acclaimed for his portraits of elegant women not only in Paris, but also with high society in London and New York. His models included Consuelo Vanderbilt, Marchesa Casati, Belle da Costa Greene, Louise Chéruit and Helena Rubinstein and as seen here actress Marguerite Labady. Helleu was a virtuoso in drypoint etching, drawing directly on a copper plate with a diamond point. He used the same dynamic and refined freedom as with his pastels. Price: Euro 2.850,- (incl. frame)
Paul-César Helleu was a French painter best known for his elegant portraits of women from the Belle Époque. At the age of sixteen, he was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts, where he developed his classical foundation while simultaneously developing a keen eye for modernity and style.
That same year, he attended the Second Impressionist Exhibition, where he met Claude Monet and John Singer Sargent. The impact of their work was immediate: the loose brushstrokes, the light, and the natural modernity on the canvas seamlessly matched Helleu's own sensitivity to atmosphere and charisma. He built a close relationship with Sargent, one that became both artistically and personally significant.
He became one of the most respected artists of the Edwardian era. His portraits combine refinement with a seeming effortlessness: women appear to him as icons of their time—graceful, self-assured, and surrounded by a world of fashion, luxury, and subtle psychology. His reputation earned him honorary memberships in several art societies, and his work was widely collected. Today, his paintings are held in museum collections worldwide.
