Paul César Helleu

Paul César Helleu was born in Vannes in 1859. Helleu was a master interpreter of feminine elegance and grace at the turn of the century. He studied art at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris under Gerome. By 1885, Helleu had produced his first drypoint engravings and lithographs. He gained a strong international following in the United States and Britain.

He was a member of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Engravers and the Societaire de la Nationale des Beaux-Arts. He was decorated by the French Government with the Legion d’honneur in 1904. Fine print dealer, Edmond Sagot commissioned posters from Paul Helleu when he opened a shop in Paris in 1881. Helleu executed a few hundred drypoint portraits, but no catalogue raisonné exists of these works. Of these prints, the edition sizes were not recorded, but they varied from five to as many as a hundred.