Camille Claudel  (French, 1864-1943) 

Camille Claudel (French, 1864–1943) was a sculptor, painter, and draughtswoman best known for her sculptures of figure groups. Born in the small village of Fère-en-Tardenois, the young Claudel traveled to Paris to study sculpture at the Académie Colarossi under Alfred Boucher (French, 1850-1934). Early work, such as Paul Claudel Aged 13 (1881), included portraits and busts of her family members. She soon became acquainted with Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917), who asked her to become his studio assistant, and she became his muse and collaborator. Claudel modeled for Rodin’s Burghers of Calais (1889) and Gates of Hell (1880-1917), while Rodin’s own craggy style of modeling is evident in her work, such as her bust of Rodin (1888). During the early years of her relationship with Rodin, Claudel’s work was sensuous and dramatic, as seen in her Çacountala (1888), and often based on mythology, such as her Perseus and the Gorgon (1902). Later, however, she sought to break away from Rodin’s shadow and establish her own reputation with subject matter that focused on everyday life, particularly portraits of women. During the 1880s, Claudel also produced many charcoal drawings in a Socialist Realist style, inspired by the painter Léon Augustin L'Hermitte (French, 1844-1925). Today, her work is held by several museum collections, such as the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée Rodin in Paris, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.