Paul-cesar Helleu, Original Drawing - Art Nouveau

Paul-César Helleu is a French painter and engraver, born in Vannes on December 17, 1859, and died in Paris (7th arrondissement) on March 23, 1927. In 1876, he was admitted to the School of Fine Arts in Paris in the Jean-Léon Gérôme's studio, but it was outdoor painters that he was most attracted to. He became friends with Whistler and Sargent, then with Claude Monet, whom he met at Durand-Ruel's during the second exhibition of the Impressionists. To survive, Helleu worked with the ceramist Théodore Deck for whom he decorated dishes. There he met Giovanni Boldini with whom he was to have a very long friendship. In 1886, already noticed in several exhibitions, he refused with his friend Monet to participate in the eighth Salon des impressionnistes, despite the requests of Edgar Degas. In 1894, Paul Helleu was in full triumph, the "Helleu style", which characterizes elegance or refinement and feminine grace, obtained immense success both in Paris and in London or New York, where he went from of 1902. In 1912, he was commissioned to decorate the ceiling of the hall of the Grand Central Terminal in New York, on the theme of the signs of the Zodiac: a starry vault, crossed by a zodiac with golden signs and of a silver milky way.

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Catalog raisonné of the artist, produced by the Association des Amis de Paul-César Helleu, referenced: APCH DE1 8433.