Paul César Helleu

Paul César Helleu

Born 17 December 1859 Vannes, Brittany,

Died 23 March 1927 (aged 67) , France

Nationality French

Education École des Beaux­Arts, Paris

Known for etchings,

Notable work(s) Portrait d’Alice Guérin, Musée Bonnat, Bayonne, France Grand Central Terminal ceiling, NYC Movement Post­, Belle Époque

Awards Légion d'honneur (1904), Paris

Paul César Helleu (17 December 1859 – 23 March 1927) was a French oil painter, pastel artist, drypoint etcher, and designer, best known for his numerous portraits of beautiful society women of the Belle Époque. Along with and James Tissot, he is regarded as a Grand Master of the society portrait of that period. He also conceived the ceiling mural of night­sky constellations for Grand Central Terminal in . He was also the father of Jean Helleu and the grandfather of Jacques Helleu, both artistic directors for Parfums Chanel. Some years later, as a friend of Coco Chanel’s, who also collected Helleu’s work, the artist advised her that black was not, in fact, ‘her color,’ but that it should rather be beige. The famed couturière thereafter would adopt beige as her signature color.

Biography 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 widowed mother, he then went to Paris and studied at Lycée Chaptal. In 1876, at age 16, he was admitted to the École des Beaux­Arts, beginning academic training in art with Jean­Léon Gérôme. Helleu attended the Second Impressionist Exhibition in the same year, and made his first acquaintances with John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, and . He was struck by their modern, bold alla prima technique and outdoor scenes, so far removed from the studio. To survive following graduation, Helleu took a job with the firm Théodore Deck Ceramique Française, hand­ 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 who 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 hands. 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 thousand­franc note.

Portrait d’Alice Guérin, Helleu's future wife

Helleu was commissioned to paint a portrait of a young woman named Alice Guérin in 1884. They fell in love, and married two years later 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 were popular fixtures. She is the model in the drypoint etching “Buste de femme” currently at Dennis Rae Fine Art, S.F.

On a trip to with Jacques­Émile Blanche in 1885, Helleu met Whistler again and visited other prominent artists of the age. His introduction to James Jacques Tissot, an accomplished society painter from France who made his career in England, proved to be a revelation. From Tissot, Helleu saw, for the first time, the possibilities of drypoint etching with a diamond point stylus directly onto 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 to 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 Helleu 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 Neo­Impressionistic works, Helleu, like Monet, refused to participate.

“Paul Helleu Sketching with His Wife” (1889), by John Singer Sargent, , New York

In 1886, Helleu befriended Count 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 on 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 was to engrave a well­known portrait of Proust on his deathbed.) Montesquiou's cousin, the Countess Greffulhe, enabled Helleu to successfully expand his career as a portrait artist to elegant women in the highest ranks of Parisian society, for which he is now most renowned. His noteworthy subjects included the Duchess of Marlborough, the Marchesa Casati, Belle da Costa Greene, Louise Chéruit, and Helena Rubenstein.