111985

Madame Paul Dupuy, née Helen Browne 1931

Half length to the left, head turned in three-quarter profile and looking at the viewer, wearing a blue dress and the medal of the Légion d’Honneur, a double strand of pearls round her neck

Oil on canvas, 81 x 65 cm (31 ⅞ x 25 ½ in.)

Inscribed lower right: de László / 1931

Sitters’ Book II, opp. f. 68: Helen Paul-Dupuy 24 Mai 1931

Private Collection

Madame Paul Dupuy was painted while de László was in Paris preparing for his exhibition at Hôtel Jean Charpentier. The portrait was begun 22 May and the artist recorded that he began her portrait “first on cardboard & then on canvas.”^[1] This suggests that he was unhappy with his first attempt and put it aside to start again, though no first version has been identified. Further sittings took place 23, 25 and a final appointment on the 26 May. De László notes in his diary that her powerful control of the press in France could be crucial to the success of his exhibition.

Helen Browne was the daughter of William H. Browne of New York and Chicago. On 9 July 1908, she married Paul Dupuy (1878-1927), the son of Jean Dupuy (1844-1919), Vice-President of France, who was painted by de László in 1914 [4479]. There were two sons of the marriage, Jacques (born 1910) and Jean (born 1909) and a daughter, Gladys (born 1912). During the First World War, she was involved with charities providing aid to soldiers returning from the front and was awarded the Légion d’Honneur by Maréchal Foch for her services. Her husband died of typhoid fever in 1927 and she became head of the largest publishing empire in France. Le Petit Parisien was their most famous publication and had the largest distribution in the world, at three million copies a day at its peak. She was sole director of the Excelsior which had been founded by her husband.  

The Chicago Tribune, of her native city, paid tribute to her: “With her capacity for work, her tact, her mind scintillating with ideas and readiness to acquire more of them, she makes an impression on everyone who meets her...When in Paris Mme. Dupuy is at her desk from early morning until late at night. It goes without saying that she has a remarkable grasp of political and economic problems, but this does not mean that she neglects literature and the arts. On the contrary, she is indefatigable as a first nighter at interesting plays , and her special hobby is the best in music. With all her other activities she fills a leading place in Parisian society.”^[2]

The sitter had three homes in France: a large flat in the rue Octave Feuillet in Paris, the Château de la Maye in Versailles,^[3] and a magnificent house at Pyla-sur-mer. All were decorated by Maison Jansen, one of the most renowned firms of interior designers in the world, most famous for the redecoration of the White House, Washington DC, during the Kennedy administration.

In June 1940, Madame Dupuy moved to America with her grandchildren, where she lived for ten years before returning to live in France. She died at her home in Paris 13 April 1951.^[4] 

PROVENANCE:

By descent from the sitter;

Sold Libert, Paris, Tableaux, Objets d’Art & Mobilier, 7 June 2013, lot 71

EXHIBITED:

•Hôtel Jean Charpentier, Paris, Exposition P.A. László, June 1931, no. 42

LITERATURE:

•László, Philip de, 1931 diary, private collection, 22 May entry, p. 146

KF 2017