CAMILLE CLAUDEL MUSEUM at Nogent sur Seine

Camille Claudel: Sakountala 1888 single bronze safeguard of original plaster

That Camille Claudel was a genius, no-one would dispute nowadays. As a girl, she lived with her family in Nogent sur Seine. A local sculptor Alfred Boucher encouraged the young Camille-  who at 14 years old was already demonstrating a gift for clay modelling. In 2017 a new Camille Claudel Museum was opened, incorporating the Claudel family's old home:

Camille Claudel Museum

 Now 45 works by Claudel are on display, many coming from Camille Claudel's great niece- Reine-Marie Paris de la Chapelle - and another 200 by sculptors of the same time period- the end of the 19th century. Here is Alfred Boucher's "Volubilis", referring to the morning glory flower the young woman is holding:

Alfred Boucher: Volubilis ca 1897  marble

The village of Nogent was home to sculptor Alfred Boucher. It was also the birthplace of his tutor Paul Dubois, head of the Beaux Arts School in Paris from 1878 until his death in 1905. Paul Dubois' Joan of Arc statue was one of many helping to reestablish French national pride after their humiliating defeat by the Prussians in 1870:

Paul Dubois: Statue équestre de Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc on horseback) 1889
 

A bronze edition of this Joan of Arc may be found in front of St Augustin's church in central Paris.

Nogent was quite a village of sculptors, as the museum reflects. Boucher was the one who recognized Camille's potential and persuaded her mother to move the family to Paris to give Camille the best chance of succeeding in her chosen career.

Camille Claudel: La Vieille Hélène ou Vieille Femme (Old Helen or Old Woman) ca 1881-2

 

This terra cotta head of an elderly servant proves how accomplished Camille was, aged only 17. Throughout her career as sculptress Camille portrayed aged women's bodies. In "Hélène", she captures the wrinkles but also a certain spritely character.

It was one of the works she showed to Rodin when he replaced Alfred Boucher as tutor to a group of sculptresses, of whom Camille was the leading light.  By this time the girls were sharing a studio on the rue Notre Dame des Champs in Paris.

Early works by Camille Claudel on show include the classical portrayal of her brother Paul Claudel, the future famous writer:

Camille Claudel: Mon frère ou jeune Romain (My brother or Young Roman) ca 1884

Her long-suffering mother is thought to be the model for this study of a woman's head:

Camille Claudel: Portrait probable de Mme Claudel (Probable portrait of Mme Claudel)   ca 1888-90

Rodin said that the portrait Camille made of him was the best of many:

Camille Claudel: Auguste Rodin 1888-1889 bronze

An interesting section of the new Museum is devoted to Rodin's studio and some of the sculptors who worked for him as 'roughing out' assistants-  François Pompon, Jules Desbois, Antoine Bourdelle or Camille Claudel. Painter Charles Weisser has left us a view of the studio:

Charles Weisser: L'Atelier de Rodin (Rodin's studio) 1888

Camille Claudel progressed from being a pupil of Rodin to being his model, secretary, best practitioner and essential advisor, as well as his passionate lover. Their affair ended badly ten years later. Sculptor Antoine Bourdelle, like Camille Claudel, struggled to get away from Rodin's overpowering influence.

Antoine Bourdelle: Masque d'Apollon avec cou (Apollo mask with neck) 1898-1909

In this bronze of Apollo, Bourdelle affirms his own identity.  Apparently Rodin criticised the work rather severely. Camille Claudel wrote to her brother that she was finally getting away from Rodin with her sculpture of "La petite Châtelaine":

 La Petite Châtelaine (The Little Lady of the Manor) 1892-3  patinated plaster

Rodin was working very closely with Camille Claudel while he was preparing his major commission 'The Gates of Hell'. Their works bear a strong ressemblance of style during this period.

Rodin: L'Eternelle Idole (The Eternal Idol) 1889 plaster

Camille Claudel: L'Abandon (Abandon) ca 1886 bronze

There is a kind of osmosis working between the two sculptors. Her vitality combines with his erotic power.  One can feel the power of emotion between the two sculptors in, for example, Rodin's 'Eternal Spring':

Rodin: L'Eternel Printemps (Eternal Spring) 1884 

Rodin is quoted as saying  "I showed her where to find the gold, but the gold she found is her own"

After Camille Claudel's commitment to the asylum in 1913 and Rodin's death in 1917, certain works found in their respective studios were wrongly attributed, so much was their style intertwined. For example the terra cotta head below was originally thought to be by Rodin:

Camille Claudel: Tête d'esclave (Slave's head) ca 1887

Camille Claudel: La Valse 1893 (The Waltz)

When Camille Claudel first produced her waltzing couple as nude figures, she presented no background allegorical or mythological story, so it was felt to be unseemly. She then put drapes around her figures to make them more acceptable. She was interested in the way movement deforms the object, as were several of her contemporaries. Her figures almost overbalance as they lean into the movement of the waltz.

This work was the inspiration for Fabienne Verdier's stained glass windows, specially made for the new museum:

Fabienne Verdier: Forces tourbillonnaires, Hommage à Camille Claudel (Swirling forces, Hommage to Camille Claudel) 2021

Camille Claudel: L'Age mûr (the mature age) ca1890 bronze

The above work which shows a man being hauled away by an old woman while a young woman pleads for him to stay has usually been seen as the abandoning of Camille by Rodin to follow his old mistress Rose. However Claudel calls the group "The mature age" and her message is more universal: Age preying on Youth. The work was part of the sale of Camille Claudel's great niece and is a third the size of the one in the Rodin Museum in Paris.

Claudel: Torse de Clotho chauve (bald Klotho's Torso) ca 1893 bronze

In this powerful work, Camille Claudel portrays an emaciated, disfigured old woman's torso, being Klotho, the Fate who spins humanity's life-line.

Some of Claudel's smaller works showing scenes of everyday life demonstrate a new direction in her work, after Rodin:

Claudel: Profonde Pensée (Profound thought)

Claudel: Rêve au Coin du feu (Dreaming by the fireside)

After the death of Camille's father, her mother and her brother never allowed Camille to come out of the asylum, despite the advice of doctors. She abandoned her career. Many of her works had been destroyed in fits of distress while she lived in her last studio on the Ile St Louis in Paris. Evacuated down South during the 1st world war period, she died 30 years later and was buried in Montdevergues near Avignon. Eventually her bones were transferred to a common grave.

Claudel: La Sirène ou La Joueuse de Flute (Siren or the Flute Player) bronze

Behind Camille Claudel's vivacious "Flute Player", we can see the windows of the house where she lived for 3 years from 1876 to 1879.

Musée Camille Claudel, 10 rue Gustave Flaubert, 10400 Nogent-sur-Seine ( Aube en Champagne)

Opening times: 10am to 5pm (6pm in summer), except Monday (closed also on Tuesdays in winter: 1st November to 31st March)

One hour by train from gare de l'Est, Paris

  ******************************