The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 14, 2026

A vertically oriented black ink print depicts a profile of a young woman with light skin tone facing our left. Her short, wavy hair is tousled at the top. She wears a high-collared garment shaded with dense hatching and fine, diagonal strokes along her neck and chest. To the bottom left, a monogram consists of the letters F and V above the date 1891. Sparse, sketchy lines populate the background.

Young Girl in Profile

1891

Félix Vallotton

(Swiss French, 1865–1925)
Switzerland
drypoint on ivory wove paper
Platemark: 21.9 x 14.9 cm (8 5/8 x 5 7/8 in.); Sheet: 32.5 x 25 cm (12 13/16 x 9 13/16 in.)
Gift of Jane Glaubinger 2024.10
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Although well known for his woodcuts, Félix Vallotton made only 23 etchings, all around 1890. He began by making copies after Rembrandt and other past masters in the late 1880s before moving on to his own subjects, mostly figures and cityscapes.

Description

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.
  • ?–?
    Private Collection, Switzerland
    2023–24
    (Gillis Goldman Fine Art, Brussels, Belgium), sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    February 26, 2024–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Young Girl in Profile|url=false|author=Félix Vallotton|year=1891|access-date=14 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2024.10