Drypoint etching C. 1900. Pencil signed in the lower right. A rare print. Repaired tear in the top edge of the paper, not in the image. Thin spots on the back of the paper. An intense and brooding portrait with a rich drypoint burr. Plate measures 21 x 13 inches on 26 x 18 inch 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.
