Jeune Femme au Chapeau (Mlle. Kelly) by Paul César Helleu (French, 1859 - 1927)
Paul César Helleu
French, 1859 - 1927

Jeune Femme au Chapeau (Mlle. Kelly)

Crayon on paper
21 1/2 x 19 inches (54.61 x 48.26 centimeters)
Framed: 29 1/4 x 27 inches (74.3 x 68.58 centimeters)

Provenance:
Private Collection, USA

According to Mrs. Paulette Howard Johnson, Helleu’s daughter, the present drawing depicts one of the daughters of an American family, the Kellys, who were presumably very wealthy and owned a large house in Deauville before the First World War. Helleu lived half the year on his yacht in Deauville harbor with his family. Ms. Howard Johnson recalled how jealous she was of Marguerite Kelly’s hats which she bought at Coco Chanel’s shop in Deauville and recalled the American girls were particularly remembered for their taste in the latest fashions and their gift for tennis. The family left France at the outset of the war and she never saw them again. The drawings are not signed because they were framed on the verso of other Helleu drawings of the Kelly girls.

Paul César Helleu (French, 1859 - 1927)

One of the more highly sought after portraitists of his time, Paul-César Helleu began his studies at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under the great 19th-century master Jean-Léon Gérôme. Departing from his teacher’s highly academic style, Helleu developed his own technique of working in pastel in a very stylistic but more loosely applied application, which reflected the movements of late 19th-century art. His light touch and svelte lines earned him the title “Le Watteau à vapeur” among his contemporaries.

Selected Museum Collections:
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux; Boston, Museum of Fine Arts; London, Tate Gallery; Minneapolis Institute of Art; Paris, Louvre; Saint-Petersburg, Hermitage; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco;

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