“Claudel was an outstanding genius who, despite having wealth, beauty, an iron will, and a brilliant future even before meeting Rodin, was never rewarded and died in loneliness, poverty, and obscurity.”
Camille Rosalie Claudel, born in 1864, was a French sculptor known for her figurative works in bronze and marble.
I was delighted to view the work of Camille Claudel at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) in 2005. The DIA hosted a major exhibition of works by Rodin and Claudel. Ninety statutes and drawings by Claudel are known to have survived.
Camille Claudel was a French sculptor known for her works in bronze and marble and for her professional and personal relationships with August Rodin. She also worked with plaster and terracotta. She was fascinated with the human form, stone, clay, and soil as a child. Her father offered encouragement for her artistic interests. Regrettably, her mother considered the pursuit of sculpture as “unlady-like.” This sentiment from her mother and other family members had profound negative consequences on Claudel after her father’s untimely death.
At times Camille was destitute. Later, she was confined to a mental institution for thirty years even though hospital staff told her family members she should be released.
Today Claudel is recognized as a genius; she changed the direction of modern sculpture from neoclassicism to something more. Her work has been described as intellectual, passionate, and overtly sexual. Claudel’s most recognized sculptures include The Waltz and the Mature Age.
Today, the Musee Rodin, the Camille Claudel Museum, the Musee d’Orsay, Courtauld Institute of Art, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the J. Paul Getty Museum have work by Claudel.