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| No other artist represented the
“Belle Epoque” in the art of printmaking as greatly as Paul Cesar Helleu
be it in his “posed portraits”, “portraits seized in a moment”, or “intricate
affectionate studies”. With his engravings in black and white or those
printed in colours he made use of all the drama and all the techniques
of his medium to produce studies which could be compartmentalised into
formal compositions, or family scenes and nudes, either in interiors or
outdoor settings. He did not embellish his sitters since he only
wished to paint the young and the pretty - he seldom drew older women
and there are only three or four images of men in his work.
Helleu was to achieve fame and a luxurious lifestyle, mixing socially with the “beau monde” and high society of the pre Great War era becoming one of the most successful and popular portraitists of his age. At the same time he maintained firm connections with the impressionists, especially Monet and Degas, but his closest friendship was formed with John Singer Sargent with whom he travelled to Holland on painting trips or visiting him with his family at his home in Worcestershire. Despite the opposition of his widowed mother who did not approve of his choice of art as a career, Helleu attended the atelier of Jean Leon Gerome, an ardent opponent of the concept of impressionism, in 1876. To provide himself with sufficient income he began his artistic career by decorating ceramics and as his reputation increased he would receive portrait commissions. In 1884 he undertook to paint the young Alice Guerin, then only 14 years old, with whom he fell in love. After a two- year courtship her parents relented and the couple were married. Their first child ,“Ellen” , later to become one of her father`s favourite models, was born in 1887. In 1885 Helleu made his first attempt at drypoint etching having been encouraged to perfect the technique by James Jacques Tissot who recognised this medium as being best suited to Helleu`s confident fluid style as a draughtsman. It was the combination of these skills which lent itself to the art of drypoint and over the following decades he was to execute over two thousand etchings, sometimes making only one or two copies of each subject. No other artist was able to capture the sensuous texture of fur and plumes which dominate his striking portraits of society`s most beautiful women at the end of the nineteenth century. His sitters included eminent personalities such as Queen Alexandra, Princess Patricia of Connaught, Comtesse de Greffuhle, Madelaine Le Maire, and one favourite was Consuelo Vanderbilt the American born Duchess of Marlborough whom he met in 1900. His prominent clientele were to introduce Helleu into society both in England which he frequently visited and also from 1902 the USA where he was commissioned in 1912 to design the ceiling of the Great Hall of the Grand Central Station in New York. The advent of the Great War heralding the end of the “Belle Epoque” saw the demise of Helleu`s clientele and their elegant world of conspicuous consumption. He was now to concentrate on oil paintings of majestic cathedral views, statues in the park at Versailles or his vibrant still-lifes of flowers. Although he continued to paint and draw until his death in 1927, he destroyed almost all his copper plates four years earlier. |