Young Girl in Profile

This print depicts Hélène Chatenay, a seamstress who became Félix Vallotton’s partner during the 1890s. The two lived together in Paris’s Latin Quarter until Vallotton abruptly married Gabrielle Rodrigues-Henriques in 1899 and assumed her haut bourgeois lifestyle. During their years together, Chatenay was a frequent model for Vallotton and the profile view seen here was also realized as a drawing two years earlier.