Hélène Dufau

Hélène Dufau, registered as “Chaterine” in the registry office, seemingly having been baptized later as “Clémentine”, was a painter who studied at the Academie Julian in Paris. After a trip to Spain in 1898, her initially realistic-idyllic style changed into a poetic-imaginative style, often with allegorical and mythological motifs. In addition to paintings, she designed postcards, posters, and illustrations. In 1903 Dufau was a founding member of the Salon d’Automne and in 1909 became a Knight of the Legion of Honor. Through her deep love for Maurice, the gay son of the playwright Edmond Rostand, she developed an androgynous personality herself. In her later years she was impoverished and withdrew into the Bay of Antibes and finally into a small studio in Paris.

Dufau had already taken up sporting themes at the beginning of the century and depicted scenes, for instance, from pelota games. Outside of the art competitions, her painting Nageurs au Cap d’Antibes was first shown at the Petit Palais in Paris.