Femme en profil avec un chapeau

This is an original hand colored drypoint etching by French artist Paul Cesar Helleu.  The title: Femme en profil avec un chapeau.  measures a plate mark of 21 1/4X13 1/4 inches.  Hand signed in pencil lower right, a superb, richly inked impression with bright colors.  Printed on a heavy wove type paper.  Helleu began his art career when he enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and worked as an apprentice for Theodore Deck, decorating ceramic plates with women's portraits. He became friends with many artists of La Belle Epoch, including John Singer Sargent, Whistler, Tissot, Monet and Rodin, and became well known for his elegant portraits of women of French society. He traveled between France and America, and in 1912 was commissioned to create the astrological ceiling decoration in New York's Grand Central Station.  This drypoint is nicely framed with archival materials.