Camille Claudel
Camille Claudel (1864-1943) was a French sculptor recognized for her artistic talent and complex relationship with famed sculptor Auguste Rodin, whom she worked alongside for nearly a decade. Born to a prominent family in northern France, Claudel pursued art despite the barriers faced by women in the male-dominated environment of the late 19th century. She began her formal art education at the Académie Colarossi in Paris, where her skill gained early recognition. Notable works from her career include "Torso of a Crouching Woman" and "The Waltz," which, despite being met with discrimination and criticism, showcase her ability to capture emotion and movement in sculpture.
Claudel's tumultuous personal relationship with Rodin, marked by both collaboration and rivalry, ultimately influenced her mental health and artistic output. Following the end of their relationship and the death of her father, Claudel was committed to a mental asylum, where she spent the remainder of her life without creating any new works. Her legacy continues to be re-evaluated, with increasing recognition of her contributions to sculpture, as evidenced by the establishment of the Musée Camille Claudel in her hometown and exhibitions celebrating her work. Claudel remains a significant figure in art history, representing the struggles and achievements of women artists.
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Camille Claudel
Sculptor
- Born: December 8, 1864
- Place of Birth: Villeneuve-sur-Fère, France
- Died: October 19, 1943
- Place of Death: Montfavet, France
Education: Académie Colarossi
Significance: Camille Claudel was largely known as the muse of French sculptor Auguste Rodin and sister of noted author Paul Claudel during her lifetime. In modern times, she has been recognized for her talent as an artist, in particular for her sculptures. Few examples of her work remain, however.
Background
Camille Claudel was born into a prominent family of aristocrats and farmers in 1864. Her parents were Louis-Prosper Claudel and Louise-Athanaïse Cerveaux. She and her younger brother, Paul, had a comfortable upbringing in northern France. She was educated by the Sisters of Christian Doctrine until she was about twelve years old. The Claudel children later had a private tutor when the family moved to Nogent-sur-Seine. Her education was largely informal going forward, as she relied on her father's library.
As a teenager, artists noted her talent. With encouragement from friends, the family moved to Paris in 1881 to allow Claudel to study art. She attended the Académie Colarossi. Her earliest known works date to this period. As a woman, she was barred from the premier art academy, the École des Beaux-Arts. Female artists were also discriminated against by the men who chose works to be exhibited in salons and the male-dominated Ministry of Fine Arts.
In 1882, she shared a studio with several other young female artists. Alfred Boucher, the family friend who had recognized her talent, served as a mentor to the young women briefly. When he was required to travel, he asked his friend, sculptor Auguste Rodin, to work with the students. Rodin, then forty-three years old, was impressed by teenaged Claudel's works, especially Old Helen (1881–1882) and Paul at Thirteen (1881).
Claudel soon began modeling for Rodin. They also began a romantic relationship and collaborated on figures. In 1888 she moved into a small place near Rodin's studio.
Career
Rodin received several commissions for major projects about this time. He chose assistants to work in his studio. Claudel became one of his assistants around 1884, when she was nineteen years old. Scholars report she created several figures in Rodin's The Gates of Hell (1880–1890) and worked on other projects. She reportedly worked on parts that required a great deal of skill, such as hands and feet. She learned much in Rodin's studio.
While working for Rodin, Claudel also accepted several commissions. She created busts and portraits of people she knew, and exhibited them at the salon throughout the 1880s. Her works include Torso of a Crouching Woman (1884–1885), Torso of a Standing Woman (c. 1888), Young Girl with a Sheaf (1886–1887), and Crouching Man (c. 1886). She sold some works to French museums during the 1890s.
Some of Rodin's sculptures bear a resemblance to Claudel's work. She created Young Girl with a Sheaf, for example, before 1887. Rodin's 1889 Galatea depicts a female figure in the same pose. Some of his works were incorrectly credited to Claudel. Others, such as the heads of The Slave and Laughing Man (c. 1885), were sculpted by Claudel, although Rodin signed the bronze casts.
Discrimination against women continued to affect Claudel's work. The art establishment, led by men, had to approve any clay work before it could be cast in bronze. They refused to permit The Waltz (1889–1890) to be cast because the dancing figures were nude, and such a piece by a female artist was scandalous. Some members of the establishment went so far as to describe her work as imitation of Rodin's pieces, although scholars have noted he was influenced by his muse.
Despite their close personal and professional working connections, the relationship between Claudel and Rodin was often difficult. When they met, Rodin, who was twenty-five years her senior, was in a common-law marriage with Rose Beuret, and they remained together. As time passed, Rodin promised Claudel he would end his relationship with Beuret, but he never did so. He tried to convince Claudel of his devotion by signing a contract promising he would leave Beuret and have no woman other than Claudel in his life, but nothing changed. Claudel became increasingly angry and frustrated. She drew caricatures depicting Beuret as a witch. Her relationship with Rodin ended in 1892.
Between 1893 and 1900, Claudel created several versions of The Age of Maturity (1893–1900). The first depicts a man standing between an old woman and a young woman. A later sculpture finds the man turning away from the young woman, having released her hand, to be led away by Time. Although contemporaries interpreted the work as Destiny, which pulls man away from his youth, scholars later recognized it as a representation of her love triangle with Rodin and Beuret.
Rodin was president of the admission jury of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts (SNBA), the French arts organization that exhibited a plaster version of The Age of Maturity. When the organization did not commission a bronze cast, Claudel blamed Rodin, and bitterly left the SNBA. She also began destroying many of her sculptures.
Claudel continued to work, although she lived in poverty. On March 10, 1913, a week after her father's death, her brother and mother had her committed to a mental asylum. She was about fifty years old. She was transferred the next year to a psychiatric hospital, where she lived until her death. She never created another sculpture after her committal. Rodin left his collections to the French government, stipulating that a portion of the museum in which they were exhibited be reserved for Claudel's work. Paul Claudel made this possible when he donated four of her works to the Musée Rodin in 1952.
Impact
Claudel exerted an influence on Rodin's work. She was interested in capturing a moment in time in her sculptures—such as three women leaning close to hear the words of a fourth in The Gossips (1897). This focus became apparent in Rodin's work, also. He was inspired to experiment during their collaborative period. She was a female sculptor in a time when women were discouraged from such pursuits, and her insistence upon sculpting human nudes shocked the establishment in France. Scholars note that Rodin was revered for creating figures for which Claudel was chastised, and suspect this contributed to her apparent breakdown.
Claudel's most popular figure, Deep Thought (1893), depicts an anguished woman before a fireplace. An electric bulb within provides the red glow of the flames.
A museum dedicated to displaying her work opened in March of 2017. The Musée Camille Claudel is in Nogent-sur-Seine, in the home where the Claudel family lived. The collection includes sculptures in bronze, marble, onyx, and terracotta.
Her work gained new attention in 2024, when Getty Museum in Los Angeles featured an exhibit of around sixty pieces of her work. Among the featured pieces were The Mature Age and several variations of The Waltz.
Personal Life
Claudel and Rodin had a romantic relationship for ten years, but the two never married.
Bibliography
Alberge, Dalya. "Overshadowed by Rodin, but His Lover Wins Acclaim at Last." Guardian, 25 Feb. 2017, www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/feb/26/camille-claudel-rodins-lover-acclaim-sculptor. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.
Akbar, Arifa. "How Rodin's Tragic Lover Shaped the History of Sculpture." Independent, 10 Aug. 2012, www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/how-rodins-tragic-lover-shaped-the-history-of-sculpture-8026836.html. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.
Buffenstein, Alyssa. "Museum Dedicated to Overlooked Sculptor Camille Claudel Opens in France." ArtNet, 27 Mar. 2017, news.artnet.com/art-world/camille-claudel-museum-opens-france-902573. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.
"Camille Claudel." Musée Rodin, www.musee-rodin.fr/en/exhibition/camille-claudel. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.
Jumeau-Lafond, Jean-David. "Camille Claudel." The Art Tribune, 25 Mar. 2008, www.thearttribune.com/Camille-Claudel.html. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.
Lampert, Catherine. "The Genius of Camille Claudel." Apollo, 13 May 2017, www.apollo-magazine.com/the-genius-of-camille-claudel/. Accessed 27 Sept 2024.
Lewis, Jo Ann. "The Resurrection of Claudel." Washington Post, 30 Apr. 1988, www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1988/04/30/the-resurrection-of-claudel/a301161d-d1c5-4409-9422-dd34742ae797/?utm‗term=.008b65a3a577. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.
Riefe, Jordan. "French Sculptor Camille Claudel Steps Out from Rodin’s Shadow in New Getty Show." ArtNews, 18 Apr. 2024, www.artnews.com/art-news/news/french-sculptor-camille-claudel-steps-out-from-rodins-shadow-in-new-getty-show-1234703726/. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.