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.