CLAUDEL, Camille

Clotho is the youngest of the Three Fates or Moirai, in ancient Greek mythology. She was responsible for spinning the thread of human life.

In Claudel’s sculpture the roguish spinner is apparently caught in her own trap: the standing figure’s hair seems tangled in the skeins of thread with which she spins out every human life, making her a strange and evil creature. Her insanely tilted head, deformed chin, wild eyes, and hint of awful laughter captivate the beholder.

The plaster was exhibited at the Salon of 1893. The final marble piece was completed in 1897. Its whereabouts are unknown.

In this intimate composition, which is conceived as a caricature, three nudes, sitting on two benches, lean in the direction of a fourth woman. Completely wrapped up in their confidential chat, their tilted heads, concentrated expressions, and wide eyes betray their curiosity over some priceless revelation. The high quality and realistic execution of this anecdotal subject make it a peerless work. Several versions exist, differing only in the handling of the screen and hair. One in onyx, a rare material that is difficult to work, was executed in 1897.

This work was exhibited at the 1897 Salon of the Soci�t� Nationale des Beaux-Arts.

This work was exhibited at the 1897 Salon of the Soci�t� Nationale des Beaux-Arts.

At the height of their affaire, Claudel and Rodin shared the Château de l’Islette, a romantic spot in the Tours region. Here Claudel executed a bust of La Petite Châtelaine, Marguerite Boyer, the owners’s six-year-old granddaughter. The child was obliged to sit for nearly sixty-two hours of posing, in exchange for which Claudel bought her a doll.

The motionless, studied pose of the figure fully conveys little Marguerite’s concentration. Hypnotized, she watches the sculptor’s every gestures. Several plasters were cast; in 1895 and 1896, Claudel sculpted four marbles, one of them was owned by Claude Debussy.

For many years, Claudel and Rodin had an intense affair. Right from the start, their relationship became inextricably linked to their artistic output. All of the women who became close to Rodin, Claudel was the only one who was an equal in work.

This sculpture shows a man between two women, one younger and one older. The man is not actually standing between the women, the older one is leading him away with her, with no visible resistance from him. The younger one stays behind, her hands stretched out toward him beseechingly.

The work bears autobiographical features. It is a symbolic representation of the triangular relationship between Rose Beuret, Rodin’s lifelong partner, Rodin, and Camille Claudel herself.

In The Waltz, entwined dancers suggest the passionate embrace of a couple. The angle of the bodies, combined with the abundant drapery, accentuates the whirling dance as it creates a light, harmonious rhythm. Carried away by the intoxicating swirl, the shared elan, the caress of hands, the languid, interlocking bodies, and the closeness of their faces, the two lovers are on the verge of surrender.

Critics enthusiastically greeted “the ambitious and skilful imbalance” of the work, which also met with commercial success.

In The Waltz, entwined dancers suggest the passionate embrace of a couple. The angle of the bodies, combined with the abundant drapery, accentuates the whirling dance as it creates a light, harmonious rhythm. Carried away by the intoxicating swirl, the shared elan, the caress of hands, the languid, interlocking bodies, and the closeness of their faces, the two lovers are on the verge of surrender.

Critics enthusiastically greeted “the ambitious and skilful imbalance” of the work, which also met with commercial success.

Clotho is the youngest of the Three Fates or Moirai, in ancient Greek mythology. She was responsible for spinning the thread of human life.

This highly impressive plaster is one of Claudel’s most unusual figures: a haggard old woman, well marked by physical decay, her body is skin and bones.

Even as she collaborated on Rodin’s major commissions in the studio, Claudel continued her own creative work, which the master supported and attempted to promote. Claudel decided that her first major project would be an ambitious piece celebrating the triumph of love. She sculpted two big figures evoking a legendary Indian tale of Shakuntala by the poet Kalidasa. Full of intensity and emotion, this group is a marvel of affection and modest sensuality. Passion and desire are expressed with propriety and restraint. It combines both a debt to Rodin and her autonomous style. The patinated plaster won Claudel a honourable mention at the Salon des Artistes Fran�ais.

Later, by changing only the characters’ attributes, a carefully polished marble version that Claudel produced in 1905 would be rechristened Vertumnus and Pomona.

Pomona, the classical goddess of fruit, and Vertumnus, the god of transformation, are the main figures in an episode in Ovid’s Metamorphoses.