Paul César Helleu, Study of 4 Women, Etching, Framed

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Paul César Helleu
Vannes 1859 - 1927 Paris
"Study of Four Women"
Etching on laid paper
Signed in pencil lower … Read more Paul César Helleu
Vannes 1859 - 1927 Paris
"Study of Four Women"
Etching on laid paper
Signed in pencil lower left
Inscribed "Unique épreuve, \.\." lower right
Rare proof
Image: 39 x 23.5 cm
Frame: 56 x 44.5 cm
Antique Art Nouveau frame, acid-free mat, museum glass
Authenticity guaranteed in writing

Paul César Helleu apprenticed as a ceramicist and took drawing lessons on the side. Against the wishes of his widowed mother, he went to Paris in 1876 to study at the École des Beaux-Arts under the Salon Realist Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824–1904). Within a very short time, he became acquainted with the city's renowned artists, including Henri Matisse, Edgar Degas, James Tissot, and Giovanni Boldini, as well as the writer and art collector Robert de Montesquiou. He soon formed a close friendship with John Singer Sargent, and his circle of acquaintances also included Auguste Rodin, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, James McNeill Whistler, Oscar Wilde, Coco Chanel, Charlie Chaplin, and, above all, Marcel Proust. Helleu established himself in the 1890s as a successful painter of the rich and beautiful of the Boulevard Saint-Germain. His wife, Alice Guérin (born 1874), was his muse and his preferred model. This piece has an attribution mark,
I am sure that it is completely authentic and take full responsibility for any authenticity
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