Camille Claudel
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Camille Claudel (December 8, 1864 – October 19, 1943) was a French sculptor and graphic artist. She was the older sister of the French poet and diplomat, Paul Claudel.
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Early years
She was born in Fère-en-Tardenois, Aisne, in northern France, the second child of a family of farmers and gentry. Her father, Louis-Prosper, dealt in mortgages and bank transactions. Her mother, the former Louise Cerceaux, came from a Champagne family of Catholic farmers and priests. Claudel spent her childhood in Villeneuve-sur-Fère, in Bar-le-Duc (1870), Nogent-sur-Seine (1876), and Wassy-sur-Blaise (1879). She moved with her family to the Montparnasse area of Paris in 1881.
Creative period
Fascinated with stone and soil as a child, as a young woman she studied at the Académie Colarossi with sculptor Alfred Boucher. (At the time, the École des Beaux-Arts barred women from enrolling to study.) In 1882, Claudel rented a workshop with other young women, mostly English, including Jessie Lipscomb. In 1883, she met Auguste Rodin who taught sculpture to Claudel and her friends.
Around 1884, she started working in Rodin's workshop. Claudel became his source of inspiration, his model, his confidante and lover. She never lived with Rodin, who was reluctant to end his 20-year relationship with Rose Beuret. Claudel's friend Jessie Libscomb later said that Claudel and Rodin had two children. Knowledge of the affair agitated her family, especially her mother who never completely agreed with Claudel's involvement in the arts. As a consequence, she left the family house. In 1892, perhaps after an unwanted abortion, Claudel ended the intimate aspect of her relationship with Rodin, although they saw one another regularly until 1898.
Beginning in 1903, she exhibited her works at the Salon des Artistes français or at the Salon d'Automne.
From 1905 on, Claudel acted mentally deranged. She destroyed most of her statues, disappeared for long periods of time and acted paranoid. She accused Rodin of stealing her ideas and of leading a conspiracy to kill her. After the wedding of her brother (who supported her until then) in 1906 and his return to China after a stay in France, she lived secluded in her workshop.
Confinement
Her father, who approved of her career choice, tried to help her and financially supported her. He died on March 2, 1913 and no one informed Claudel of his death. On March 10, 1913 at the initiative of her mother, she was forcibly admitted to the psychiatric hospital of Ville-Évrard in Neuilly-sur-Marne. She was committed by the signatures of a doctor and her mother. Until her death, Claudel was confined in various asylums, and created no art.
For awhile, the press accused her family of committing a genial sculptor. Her mother forbade her to receive mail from anyone other than her brother. The hospital staff regularly proposed to her family that Claudel be released, but her mother adamantly refused each time. On June 1, 1920, physician Dr. Brunet, sent a letter advising her mother to try to reintegrate her daughter into the family environment.
Paul Claudel, her brother, visited her every few years, though he referred to her in the past tense. In 1929 Jessie Lipscomb visited her.
Camille Claudel died on October 19, 1943, after having lived 30 years in psychiatric hospitals, and without a visit from her mother or sister. (Her mother died on June 20, 1929.) Some biographies list her death as 1920. Her body was interred in the cemetery of Monfavet.
Legacy
Though she destroyed much of her art work, about 90 statues, sketches and drawings survived.
In 1951, her brother organized an exhibition at the Musée Rodin, which continues to display her sculptures. A large exhibition of her works was organized in 1984.
With the publication of several biographies in the 1980s she gained recognition for her art.
The motion picture Camille Claudel was made about her life in 1988. Co-produced by Isabelle Adjani, starring herself as Claudel and Gerard Depardieu as Rodin. In 1989 the film was nominated for two Academy Awards.
External links
- Extensive website about Camille Claudel and her works (http://www.camilleclaudel.asso.fr/) (in French)
- Claudel pages, including biography and timeline, at rodin-web.org (http://www.rodin-web.org/claudel/default.htm)
- Camille Claudel at artcyclopedia.com (http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/claudel_camille.html)
- Camille Claudel: a Life of Struggle (http://www.boheme-magazine.net/php/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=236)de:Camille Claudel