Summer 2016 b

Andrea Jenkins takes a look at...
The Muse and The Artist:
Camille Claudel
The idea of the muse originates
in Greek mythology,
nine goddesses, daughters of Zeus and
the Titan Mnemosyne (Goddess of memory),
who inspired literature, science and
the arts. Each had an attribute but none is
applied to the visual arts.
The current concept of an artist’s muse
has evolved from this and covers a huge
range of sorts and conditions of people
and other anthropomorphic sources
of inspiration. We tend to think of an
artist’s muse as being model, lover, an
emotional involvement and a fascination
to the artist; often an obsession. This
is particularly the association from the
mid-nineteenth century onwards with the
rise of non-commissioned art and groups
of artists such as the Impressionists and
pre-Raphaelites with shared ideals and
styles … oh and shared muses too!
The muses of the 19th century came from
a variety of backgrounds and several
were well educated, surprisingly liberated
women who were also artists.
One such was Camille Claudel who was
Rodin’s muse for several years in the late
19th century. I was surprised to find that
coming from an ordinary middle class
family she was encouraged in her artistic
talent as a sculptor by her father and was
allowed to study at a women’s art academy
where she was tutored by the sculptor
Alfred Boucher. When he left to work in
Italy, she was introduced to Rodin who
took her as an assistant along with her
fellow student and friend Jessie
Lipscomb.
Her own work, of a neo-classical style, was initially
intimate portraits of family and friends.
She acquired the skills of modelling the human
form which became very useful to Rodin in his
studio. Although Claudel exhibited her sculptures
in the Salon de Paris over the 20 years she
was associated with Rodin, they were always
overshadowed by his monumental creations.
Rodin was was captivated by this beautiful,
precocious nineteen year old who had a passion
for art that equaled his own. She modelled for
him, became his lover and muse but more importantly
became his most prominent assistant
as she helped to compose the huge sculpture
‘The Gates of Hell’ and it is also thought that
she sculpted the hands and feet of the ‘Burghers
of Calais’.
There was mutual inspiration between Claudel
and Rodin during this period and whilst it might
be assumed that the young Claudel would learn
from Rodin as she worked in his studio, there is
evidence that he took ideas from her work also.
Her sculpture of the Girl with the Sheaf is one
example, closely emulated by Rodin’s stone
carving of the same figure.
This relationship combining the professional
and emotional was not smooth and while
Claudel appeared to accept Rodin’s womanising
under the guise of frequently requiring
fresh models for his work, she was more
disturbed by his long term relationship with
Rose Beuret with whom he had a son. Rodin
refused to give up this relationship as Claudel
asked him to constantly and he eventually
married Beuret in 1917, the year they both
died.
Claudel found this love triangle increasingly
difficult to live with and it gradually ate
away at her creativity and sanity. She began
to work obsessively often creating sculptures
that reflected her personal circumstances and
then destroy what she had done. The studio
she eventually rented close to Rodin’s was
her haven and she became more and more of
a recluse living in poverty. She became increasingly
dishevelled, filthy and unpredictable.
her neighbours gave her a wide berth
and warned their children about her. Eventually,
her family realised that she could no
longer care for herself and her brother had
her interned in a mental asylum in 1913 at
the age of 39. That was the end of her career
as a sculptor.
Diagnosed with a persecution complex and
with a paranoia about Rodin, she remained
there until her death in1943. It is a sad story
and I have found a variety of contradictions
while researching her life but most constant
is the description of destruction wrought by
emotional entanglement and perceived betrayal.
It is easy to reflect and wonder why
Claudel let herself be seduced by Rodin,
knowing that he already had a long term partner
and a string of models and mistresses. It
was almost certainly very difficult to live independently
as a female artist at that time,
financially of course, as it still is for any artist,
but also because of social restraints for
women at that time. It is surprising that her
middle class parents allowed her to become
a sculptor at all rather than insisting on the
conventional course of marriage and family
life. Perhaps they thought Rodin would marry
her but that is conjecture.
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