Introducing Camiell Claudel
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CAMILLE CLAUDEL Jacques Vilain “My very dearest down on both knees before your beautiful body which I embrace.” Letter from Rodin to Camille Claudel (end of 1884 - beginning of 1885). She met Rodin in 1883 and entered his studio the following year. Rodin’s talented pupil very soon became his mistress ; he was then in the midst of creating The Gates of Hell and The Burghers of Calais. The two artists had a mutual influence on one another ; her The two artists had a mutual influence on one another ; her Jeune Fille à la Gerbe of 1887 was a precursor of Rodin’s Galatea, and the and the Three Female Fauns are the inspiration for the female’ figures in Camille Claudel’s La Vague. However, it was not until the early 1890s that Camille demonstrated the full measure of her art, at a time when her relationship with Rodin was beginning to deteriorate, as is demonstrated by the cruelty of the barbed drawings,which Camille devoted to Rose and Rodin as a couple : the However, it was not until the early 1890s that Camille demonstrated the full measure of her art, at a time when her relationship with Rodin was beginning to deteriorate, as is demonstrated by the cruelty of the barbed drawings,which Camille devoted to Rose and Rodin as a couple : the Système Cellulaire, Réveil, Collage... Camille realised that she would never be Rodin’s wife and would never succeed in ousting Rose Beuret ; the final break between the lovers came in 1898, and the wound it caused was commensurate with the ardour of the love that the two artists had experienced for more than ten years. Camille never recovered from the separation, even if her art then started to break free of the influence of her famous master, with Camille realised that she would never be Rodin’s wife and would never succeed in ousting Rose Beuret ; the final break between the lovers came in 1898, and the wound it caused was commensurate with the ardour of the love that the two artists had experienced for more than ten years. Camille never recovered from the separation, even if her art then started to break free of the influence of her famous master, with La Valse in 1892, taken up again in 1895 and produced in a large edition by Eugène Blot after 1905 ; Clotho in 1895 ; the various versions of the La Petite Châtelaine ; started in 1893, or started in 1893, or L’Age Mûr in I895, taken up again in 1898 and 1907 : a cruel statement of abandonment, Rodin leaving Camille, on her knees begging him to stay, to go back to Rose. The most profoundly original examples of Camille’s work were produced at the turn of the century ; with works such as Les Causeuses, 1897 , and 1897 , and La Vague, 1900, she embarked on a new style derived from the japonisme fashionable at the time and deeply anchored in Art Nouveau. Using onyx, a rare material, she based her compositions on an elegant play of curves ; thus Camille was a sculptor in tune with the art of her day. Unfortunately the first signs of paranoia were starting to become evident. From 1906 the madnes became more pronounced and destructive. The Museum has fifteen of her sculptures and it is here that the most representative selection of Camille’s art can be seen. This is as Rodin wished ; we need only quote the words he wrote to his friend Morhardt in 1914 When the museum project was taking shape : “With regard to the Hôtel Biron, nothing is settled yet. The idea of including some sculptures by Mlle Say [a phonetic pseudonym for Camille Claudel, Mademoiselle C., based on the French pronunciation of “c”] would please me very much. This house is quite small and I don’t know how the rooms will be arranged. There could be a few buildings for her and for me.” Following the 1951 exhibition Paul Claudel gave the museum the plaster version of Clotho, L’Age Mûr in bronze and Vertumne et Pomone in marble. In 1963 the museum acquired the onyx version of Les Causeuses, and it seemed only natural this should be joined in 1995 by and it seemed only natural this should be joined in 1995 by La Vague, a masterpiece in bronze and onyx also purchased by the museum. Therefore it is in Rodin’s own house that Camille’s work can best be appreciated in all the power and originality of own individual genius, stripped of the media hype which has tented only to distort it. Extract from the work Rodin - Le musée et ses collections, published by Scala, Paris, 1996 Collections Rodin the Sculptor - Rodin the Sketcher - Rodin the Painter and Engraver Rodin the Collector - Meudon - Archives - Photographs - Camille Claudel |
Guess Who...
Camille Claudel is well known as being Rodin's lover and muse. Despite this, she was a great artist in her own right, and her works have often been said to be much more creative in comparison to Rodin's (they were also a great influence on his own works). Unfortunately, it has also been said that he caused her to "go mad." Whether or not this is entirely true has not been proven of course. In addition to their tragic love affair, the reasons behind her mental breakdown could also be ascribed to her refusal to "give in" to the populace's taste, which resulted in poverty, her presumed alcoholism (which is debatable), declining health, and low morale; Rodin's ex-lover, a talented woman and an equal to him, who lived her life according to her own principles, was not strong enough in the end to withstand the pressures of life. As it has been said, "little things cannot grow under big trees", and Claudel was ahead of her time, and, like most great artists, unrecognized and unappreciated until after she was long gone. Claudel's Sakountala, also known as L'Abandon, depicts Sakountala and her true love in Nirvana; the only catch is, Nirvana is a state of non-being; detachment; you are part of the cosmos, but you are not yourself, the ego has died. The two lovers were estranged on earth for the time being, but before Sakountala died, a promise made: I will remember you. Now, after being estranged on the earthly plane, they do, but they don't at the same time. Here's the Catch 22: Floating in Nirvana, where the self dies, their love has survived the reality of this, yet they don't recognise what is happening or who the "other" is, but something tells them, instinctually, that the other is there. Holding on for something, a lock of hair, flesh, spirit in this case. A love that has survived the very death of the ego. A contradiction indeed, and quite poignant. So was it madness or just a keen intensity of emotions? Or was it destiny bringing these two together and then the final, tragic end? Camille must have thought on these subjects heavily to produce such mature, ethereal, and ingenious works for her young age. This is how Camille continued in life: afraid, alone, and so very young, yet never compromising herself. Ridden by an anguished love, depressed, drinking heavily, and secluded, Camille presents us with Medusa. Another piece inspired by her tumultuous relationship with Rodin. A sad, passive face, The Prayer (or The Psalm). There is a calm beneath Camille's stormy waves. A distinct "old soul" wisdom beyond her spiritedness, her wild artistic nature. It is best expressed her in The Prayer. Of course, Camille is best remembered for her dramatic, anguished state. The Implorer (God Flown Away) and other works like it are raw, pure, and honest. Camille does not hide her emotions behind stylised artifice (like Rodin) and pretty model poses. Hers is real. Touch it, it bleeds. And where is God? Rodin, who has flown away. Camille used her brother, Paul, for the model of Head of a Young Roman, the brother who would later become a famous poet and playright. The Head of a Young Girl is portrayed in the film Camille Claudel, along with most of the other sculptures viewed on this website. Please click on the thumbnails below for a better, more appropriate appreciation of Claudel's famous works, Man Crouching (or Bent Man), The Gossips, and Deep Thought. Related Films: |
Camille Claudel, of Dreams and Nightmares: An Introduction "Some say that Plath, Woolf, and Claudel were "mad" geniuses who'd have ended up the same sad way Camille Claudel, of Dreams and Nightmares is a website dedicated to the sculpture of Camille Claudel, along with a brief explanation of Camille Claudel's major works. In addition, a brief biography about Camille Claudel, images, and links. Camille Claudel is the subject of various websites and books, as well as a film aptly titled "Camille Claudel"; especially with the recent surge in feminism, Camille Claudel's popularity seems to be much greater today than ever before. From what I have read of various biographies of Camille Claudel, I understand that she was a woman ahead of her time; she scorned the bourgeois, just as many artists, writer, and musicians did -- in the same way that modern artists scorn the common, small-minded, and narrow society (read Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf for a good understanding of the artist's situation in society). Following the pattern of Vincent van Gogh and Franz Schubert, Camille Claudel was not a great "promoter" of her works, and, to make things worse, the bourgeois society, just like today, failed to understand her art (again, like the plight of Vincent van Gogh and many others). At her core, Camille Claudel was a true rebel, not because she wanted to be, but because she had to. Camille Claudel was a true artist, in the very deepest sense. "Some say that Plath, Woolf, and Claudel were "mad" geniuses who'd have ended up the same sad way (Quote by Phyllis Chesler.) |
Fever of the Brain -Das 2003 When feathers fall like coins and the roots of grass grow up - I’ll be there. Insanity is not a notion It is not an inclination nor is it a fever of the brain. Something quite physical and unique is happening there, here or where… And of this we do not know nor can we understand. From within our own minds eye the camera stands alone Perched on top of its tripod, the filming has just begun… The imagination is endless - there are no boundaries nor confines here… And the film just keeps on filming until the film runs out of time… And then its as though the camera just shuts off. No switches to flick or buttons to push everything has just stood still. All the pictures and all the noise all the chaos, burden, wonder, all of the fear and all of the dread has stopped… No film left for memory. Every thing is now a new. Each and every moment Each and every thought, memory and sound we’ve never known anything like it before And then the confusions of lifes own begins to set in. Sometimes I think that I am crazy… For I see this world as a whole… It is not only me that I see… I see everything. I see you. My understanding of life and of love - of kindness and of woe - Somehow seems so very limited. I can not stretch our my hand to grasp what it is that it is nor can I leap across that very fine line The line that I am - the line that we know and the line I see within my own struggles. These are the bad days when no true answer can be found. No thought can be pure… it leaves me lingering… Like a silhouette with out a soul. |