Etude de Mme Helleu. A Study of the Artist's Wife. by Paul Helleu, 1859-1927

Paul Helleu, 1859-1927
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Etude de Mme Helleu. A Study of the Artist's Wife.

Original drypoint in sanguine ink. c.1898. Signed in pencil. Edition size unknown - we have only ever seen one other impression which was in black ink. Very rare especially in sanguine ink.

Extremely fine rich and tonal impression wiped with a gentle plate tone. On pale cream wove paper. Generally excellent condition; slight traces of soiling from old mounting on the reverse of the sheet only. Full (?) margins. Sheet: 22 5/8 x 17 7/8ins. Plate: 15 3/8 x 11 1/2ins (390x290mm).

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In this very private and personal study of his wife the elegant richness and sensitivity of Helleu?s handling of drypoint can be seen at its most beautiful. This impression is printed in the soft red-brown of sanguine ink and the tonality, and the hint of a film of ink left on the surface of the plate, add a particular delicacy and glow to the panache of the drawing.

No information is known about the edition size for this drypoint but it was certainly extremely small. We have only ever seen one other example (which was in black ink).

Helleu?s art epitomises the style and elegance of the Belle Epoque, those years of languid decadence from the end of the 1880?s to the beginning of the First War in France. Helleu had been taught to use drypoint as a medium by Tissot, and the way that drypoint line combines stroke and tone in the burr exactly complemented the natural flow of his drawing. During the 1890?s his prints were only just starting to gain the fame which was to make him the most admired French portraitist of society women in the first decade of the 20th century. Many of his prints in the 1890?s, like this study of his wife, were drawn for his own satisfaction with no intention to make commercial editions. They have a beauty of line, a delicate sensitivity of drawing, a feeling for surface, and a range of stroke from the most ethereal to the most dramatic, which makes them masterpieces of their genre.