Portrait of Mrs Hélène Yelin (or Yellin) (1923)

William Patrick Roberts

oil on canvas

The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent

Portrait of Mrs Hélène Yelin (or Yellin) (1923)

Classification:

Painting

Materials:

Oil, Canvas

Physical Object Description:

Signed 'Roberts' in red, top right. The model for 'The Creole', as it was titled then was Mrs Helène Yelin, who also posed for a bust by Epstein of 1919.

Dimensions:

59 x 48.5 cm

Accession Number:

1938.FA.306

Credit:

Presented by the Contemporary Art Society, 1936/37

Scheme:

Historic Purchase by Purchaser (1914-2008)

Ownership history:

Purchased from the artist's solo show at the Chenil Gallery by Sir Edward Marsh (1872-1953) for the Contemporary Art Society, 1923; presented to The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, 1936/7

Relationship:

Edward 'Eddie' Howard Marsh Charles Chenil & Co. Ltd (Chenil Gallery), London The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent

Subject:

Portraits, Black (presence)

The sitter performed with her husband, the musician W. Yellin, in the Soho clubs in London in the 1920s, including the Harlequin Café in Beak Street, frequented by the artists by William Roberts, Augustus John and Jacob Epstein. Hélène posed for Roberts as well as Epstein; her portrait in bronze dated 1919 by Epstein is at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge and the same model appears in 'The Joke', painted by Roberts in 1923 (private collection). This painting is currently on display at Tate Britain, 2023.

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