Orne Enchères, from Alençon in France, sells on 24 February 2024 a somewhat damaged large (60 by 46 cm) drawing by Hélène Dehaussy, estimated at 300 Euro.
I hadn't heard of the artist, and the auction gave no further info, but a swift search revealed an interesting but sad story.
She was said to be married to Jules Dehaussy, in which case I haven't been able to find her maiden name. But it seems more likely that she was his sister or daughter. The above very blurry image is all that remains of her self portrait, displayed at the 1885 Salon in Paris and later donated to the Museum of Péronne by her husband (or brother, or father), but sadly lost in the First World War (after a bombing or through looting).
A picture of Hélène Dehaussy with her sister (Cécile or Mathilde) can be found at the same website.
She was a talented artist, mainly working in drawings it seems, e.g. this portrait or study of the head of a nude woman, sold at Christie's in 2008 for £688 (and also sold the year before for £525).
She must have been a modern, intelligent woman, e.g. following the congres of the French Société de l'Archéologie and going on their excursions in 1888. But on 12 November 1889, she died, at a young age still, from some contagious disease which spread through France afterwards (but which I haven't been able to identify yet). She came from a family of artists and intellectuals, one of her sisters was married to historian Jules Lair. Her death was noted in the Magazine of Art, which stated that she had first exhibited at the Salon in 1878.
The work for sale is described as a "Nu féminin à l'antique", a female nude in the antique style, but tells more of a story, with the girl fishing for a frog.
The reverse also has a partly removed exposition label, which seems genuine in this case. And sure enough, I could find this work, indeed titled "La pêcheuse de grenouilles" in two exhibitions, the "Exposition internationale de blanc et noir" in 1886, and the more local 1888 exposition of the "Société des Amis des Arts du Département de l'Eure". And that final catalogue gave me the missing biographical elements; she was born on 31 October 1857, so just 32 years old when she died, apparently unmarried. She had exposed her work from when she was about 20 years old, appearing 4 times at the Paris Salon. But although she seemed to be fondly remembered by those who knew her, she sank into oblivion after her death, just like so many names from the lists of the Salons, only to reappear occasionally at some auction.
