camille claudel
i watched a movie last nite. it was about camille claudel and rodin. how amazing her gift was. her touch transformed the inanimate to a lifeform..as did other sculptors who were normally men…she, a woman, brought life to stone as always it seem like magic to me. her great love was for the both of them…is..as their sculptures..live on…i think but it took such a sad turn. their love, like the stone they loved got chipped away by ego, by hate, the artists’ immensity of emotion. i could almost understand and yet, if only ego was cast aside, just a little veering of the road on the path they had chosen, their love would have been as close to shakespearean love as ever could have been. sometimes it seems it is dangerous for us mere mortals to love but when artists love, truly love, they pour their inner immensity into it…what is this otherworldly wave of love that either makes artists fly or drown in such despair, and then, not even that love could help them..such a high price they have to pay for their gift…life. she had everything…such unnatural talent in a woman, beauty, youth, love and a father who supported her immensely all the way to the end…but maybe there was too lil faith yet too much in self..driven by her demons..she got lost and drowned. and the great love that she had, rodin, who i think besides migelangelo was one of the most greatest sculptor, was simply a man who loved her briefly. he lived a full life and continued on with his work and women after her downfall. the movie was the first knowledge of her life i had. after reading a few sources, she might have married and/or had children but in the end i still think the immensity of love and ego drowned her and the people around her killed her before her time…
Camille Claudel
French, 1864-1943As a young woman, Camille Claudel was recognized for both her artistic talent and her physical beauty; nevertheless, she spent most of her adult life as a recluse. Much attention has been focused on Claudel’s relationship with her teacher, mentor, and lover, Auguste Rodin. Her complex personal drama has brought her prominence through scholarly and popular accounts. Yet it was first and foremost her unrivaled ability to convey narrative through marble and bronze that attracted patrons and critical accolades.
Born in Fère-en-Tardenois, Aisne, Claudel moved with her family to Paris around 1881. She studied sculpture at the Académie Colarossi, one of the few art academies in France open to female students. Along with other sculptors, she also shared an independent studio where Alfred Boucher taught. In 1883 Boucher won a Prix de Rome and departed for Italy; he asked Rodin to serve as adviser to Claudel and her colleagues in his stead.
Two years later, Rodin asked Claudel to become a studio assistant. By working as Rodin’s apprentice, Claudel had the chance to study the nude figure, an unusual opportunity for a woman in the 19th century, but one that gave the artist a profound understanding of anatomical nuances. Claudel modeled hands and feet for Rodin’s Burghers of Calais and posed for figures in his Gates of Hell.
In 1893, because Rodin’s work and stature occupied front stage in French culture, Claudel secluded herself in her studio to disassociate herself from him and to try to establish her own reputation. Her love for portraying the human form resulted in certain sculptures that the state and an infuriated press censored as overly sensual and inappropriate for public display. These circumstances may have contributed to the decline of her career and her mental state. In 1913 Claudel was committed to a mental asylum, where she remained until her death 30 years later.– nmwa.com
this is another account of her life…
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