Camille Claudel
When Camille Claudel (1856-1920) met Auguste Rodin, she was 19 years old and he was 43. He was to become her teacher, mentor, and lover - and most attention towards Claudel has focused upon their ensuing 15-year relationship. The years when Claudel served as Rodin's studio assistant were the master sculptor's most productive; for Claudel they were both instructive and, perhaps, the most destructive in terms of establishing a career independent from Rodin.
The manual work of both of them is very similar. Each sculpts in profile, extracting, like a diamond cutter, the muscular expression of a gesture. There is neither softness nor roundness in the execution, and a Camille Claudel, like a Rodin, has the density of a filled object. Like Rodin, Claudel attacks from the front; she goes straight to the essence without wasting time on unnecessary details. Her courage in both conception and execution of her work so impressed her contemporaries that they attributed it to a "virility unusual in a young woman".
The aesthetics of the two artists, however, are quite different. Rodin displays a severity of gesture and movement, and his sculptures burst with energy and tension. Quite to the contrary, Claudel follows a more traditional style. ClaudelĖs works have an air of permanence, a still power, and the essence of her art is itĖs inwardness. Also, Rodin did not sculpt from marble, while Claudel excelled in that practice. Another important difference lies in the very personal manner in which Claudel handles her themes - themes which appear very similar to those of Rodin. The couple and the dance obsessed them both. In Claudels work, the erotic reveals a tenderness - a far cry from RodinĖs caress, which he transforms into a lecherous grab. And while Rodin's best works are probes into his unconscious, ClaudelĖs best works are the fruits of her research and careful thought. Her art is withdrawn, closed, and has a sadness about it - much like the artist herself.
Rodin´ s critics agree that the style he developed in the 1880's coincides with his meeting Camille. She was barely 20 years old and at what Rimbaud called "the age of genius," while Rodin was over 40, past his prime and out of touch with his creative sources. All of the sudden he was shown a new path. This symbiosis, unique in the history of art, gave birth to a mixed work. It is said of Camille that she made some Rodin´ s; likewise, a portion of Rodin's work is said to echo Camille. The small number of statues that Camille actually signed while she was working with Rodin is astounding. By all accounts, she worked long and hard and not just on beginner´ s exercises but on works of great quality. What happened to all those days, months, years of sculpting unless she was creating works for Rodin?
Many great women artists have become "invisible" because of misattribution. In her book Women, Art, and Society, Whitney Chadwick states: