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PAUL-CESAR HELLEU (1859-1927)
Lot 54PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTION

PAUL-CESAR HELLEU (1859-1927)

Octave Mirbeau

Fermé28 March 2018

Prix réalisé

GBP 3,000

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PAUL-CESAR HELLEU (1859-1927)
Octave Mirbeau
drypoint, circa 1890s, on wove paper, a fine impression printing with rich burr, one of only three, signed in pencil and inscribed Tiré à 3 at the lower sheet edge, with wide margins, occasional very pale foxing, otherwise in very good condition, framed
Plate 255 x 400 mm., Sheet 450 x 635 mm.

With Galerie Paul Prouté, Paris.
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1983.

Note du spécialiste

This spontaneous and affectionate portrait of Helleu’s friend, the journalist and author Octave Mirbeau (1848-1917), was executed on a copper plate which had already been used by the artist. This earlier attempt, a partially drawn figure and profile of a woman, can be seen beneath the portrait of Mirbeau who sits leisurely on a canapé, his legs crossed, twirling his moustache while he gazes at the artist. The careful positioning of Mirbeau to the left of the composition, leaving the underlying drypoint very visible, seems far from accidental. Helleu is perhaps teasing his friend with an imagined dalliance.