Femme au Cheveux Roux avec Chapeau de Plumes. by Paul Helleu, 1859-1927

Paul Helleu, 1859-1927
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Femme au Cheveux Roux avec Chapeau de Plumes.

Original drypoint printed in colours. c. 1900. Signed in black chalk. Numbered in pencil (102) from the edition of probably 125 impressions (exact size not known). Published by the Cercle Librairie Estampes, Paris c.1900, and with their blindstamp.

Beautiful rich impression with strong colours. On heavy stiff off-white wove paper. Generally excellent condition. Small c. 3/4 inch margins. Sheet: 21 5/8 x 12 1/4ins. Plate: 20 1/8 x 11 1/2ins. (510x293mm)

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Perhaps the most famous of all French artists of the Belle Époque Helleu was a draughtsman of incomparable elegance. His studies of the elegant women of Parisian society in the years around the turn of the last century worked in drypoint are probably his most renowned works. In the sweeping strokes of the diamond-point, with the touch varied from rich deep drama to the most delicate and subtle of shading, he created a whole world of style.

In his earliest works Helleu used just a monochrome black ink but about 1900 he began to use multicolour inking. The plate was drawn at a single sitting, and then the colour inks were brushed onto it - here tones of coppery brown in the hair, soft blue green and grey, and the subtle touches of pink on the lips. It is a typical example of the great beauty of his drawing.