IS SHE OR ISN’T SHE
This red chalk drawing by Claude Monet was featured in the exhibition, "The Unknown Monet: Pastels and Drawings" at the Sterling Clark Museum in Williamstown, Massachusettes ( 24 June - 16 September 2007). But I didn't believe then, and don't believe now, that the drawing is by Monet. And it seems that I am not the only one.
"There is one curiously anomalous drawing in the exhibition, a portrait of an attractive woman drawn in red chalk sometime between 1890 and 1895. It is made with the skill and sensitivity of an artist who, it would seem, really did possess considerable academic skill. It's not known who the subject is, it is not associated with any known painting by Monet, and there is not another drawing like it in the Clark exhibition. It is signed Claude Monet, but one has to wonder, is it really?" Ken Johnson, The Boston Globe, "Outside the Lines" July 20th, 2007.
The issue of the drawing's authenticity was brought up at a symposium on the exhibition. But it was quickly pointed out that neither the curators nor the Museum could possibly comment on the subject, since it was against their code of ethics to borrow a work of art with one identity and return it to the owner with that identity in doubt. Not only was it unethical, it might cost them and the Museum a great deal of money in damages. That being said, I sought out the person who raised doubts about the drawing and asked him who he thought did it.
I had been wondering about this drawing for years. Its elegance and "considerable academic skill" suggested John Singer Sargent to me, or perhaps his teacher Carolus-Duran. Both of those men knew Monet. If this is a drawing of Alice Hoschede, the wife of his patron Ernest Hoschede and later Monet's second wife, the fact that Carolos-Duran lived near the Hoschede estate, château de Rottembourg, in Montgeron, made it possible both for him to do the drawing and for it to fall into Monet's hands. Monet, you see, also lived on the estate, while he worked on a series of paintings for Ernest Hoschede -- but that is another story.
Carlos Duran
Carolus-Duran's drawings seemed clumsy next to "the Monet".
Sargent visited Monet in Giverny. But one look at Sargent's drawings quickly dispelled any ideas of him as the author. Remarkably, his drawings show none of the refinement of this piece. His have all the panache of a Gibson girl illustration, but none of the subtlety of this drawing.
John Singer Sargent, Drawing Woman
With these two artists eliminated, I was anxious to hear who the "doubting curator" had in mind. He said, "Helleu". Paul Cesar Helleu was a society portrait artist, but he may be best known as the creator of the astrological ceiling decoration in New York's Grand Central Station (1922). I knew Helleu mostly from the portrait of him by John Singer Sargent, "Paul Helleu: Sketching with his Wife." So that is where I started my investigation. One look at this painting revealed much more than I expected. It not only gave me an idea of who Helleu was, but it seems to me that it also revealed the subject of our drawing! Look at the hat on Madame Helleu.
Paul Helleu, Sketching with His Wife
Helleu met Alice Louis Guerin in 1884, when she was fourteen years old and he was asked to do her portrait. He fell madly in love with her and married her two years later. He frequently used her as his model in etchings, pastels and paintings.
As soon as I saw the Sargent painting the figure of his wife jumped out at me, both for her hat and the way she appeared under it. It felt like the woman in the drawing. Could it be that while looking for Helleu I found the woman in the drawing? Was Helleu our mystery artist and his wife the model?
HAT
As I scanned though drawings and etchings of women by Helleu I came upon "Woman in Hat". That has got to be the same HAT!
I had a different image for this, but that one was lost. Still these are some comparisons here.
In other drawings you find a quality in his use of space, a frequent representation of women in hats, and perhaps most strikingly, these beautiful, translucent eyes. One should compare the eyes:
Drawings of Helleu’s Wife
So, is she or isn't she?