Paul-César HELLEU (1859-1927)

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Lot n° 14
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Result : 252 420EUR
Paul-César HELLEU (1859-1927)
Voilier blanc en régate Oil on canvas Signed lower right Oil on canvas, signed lower right 65 x 80 cm - 25 5/8 x 31 1/2 in. The Friends of Paul-César Helleu have confirmed the authenticity of this work recorded in their archives under the reference APCH: HU1-8418. PROVENANCE Private collection, France EXHIBITION Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Autour de 1900, 1950, n°96 (titled Le Yacht "L'Étoile" and dated "1901" in the booklet) PAUL-CÉSAR HELLEU White sailboat in a regatta "Helleu has indeed this feverish look, this tormented face, the raven-winged hair once seen by Edmond de Goncourt. He also has the black beard of St. Francis of Assisi, and the heron legs that the humorist Gibson pencilled in. Helleu tells me about his recent trip. He had just landed in New York, where the whole gentry wanted to parade in his improvised studio (the American women, by the dozen, larks attracted to the copper mirror, took a meeting by telephone), and he had to return, called back to France by the short illness of an idolized little girl. We talk. While I am looking at a pastel by Boldini, Leda swooning next to her beloved swan, a libertine pochade in the style of Fragonard, Helleu talks to me about this Boldini who curiously portrayed him on a ceramic by Deck, and about his friend Sargent, and the great Whistler. Finally, he spoke to me - with such enthusiasm! - of his yacht L'Étoile: the shiny mahogany, the clean brass, the dashing flag flapping in the breeze! Yachting is Helleu's life. In Paris, in winter, he feels like an exile. His happiness is, at sea, painting slender young women, standing, leaning against the rail, holding in a finely gloved hand the mauve parasol fringed with lace; chilly women, asleep in the sun, abandoning themselves to the caresses of the rocking chair. Lost profiles, cuddly glances, slightly open mouths, auburn hair twisted under the rice straw boat veiled with gauze, bodices with a soft rhythm. Such are his delights as a painter. I would be careful not to forget, besides the dear model with the golden hair, the little sailor in a jacket, who is already sailing like a sea wolf. Louis Vauxcelles, "Paul Helleu", in Gil Blas, April 12, 1903, No. 8648, n. p. "Helleu's Marines are dapper like dressmakers' salons; yachts, throbbing with their flames, like hat ribbons, glide through them like ladies." Robert de Montesquiou, Paul Helleu, Peintre et Graveur, H. Floury, Paris : 1913, pp. 42-43
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