Theory of art
Camille Claudel
The Wave, onyx and bronze, 1897. Musée Rodin, Paris
The theatre of Boris Eifman’s Dance Academy has in its repertoire a contemporary ballet, Rodin, Her Eternal Idol. Through the plasticity of the body in expressive dance, it tells the love story of the great sculptor Rodin and his talented pupil Camille Claudel.
The bond between these two geniuses at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries became an inspiration for Rodin and fatal for Camille. Even so, she left a small creative legacy recognised as high art, and the strong influence she had on her lover can be traced. For a long time after Camille’s death her name was forgotten, but in 2017 a Camille Claudel museum opened in the small town of Nogent-sur-Seine. It holds the largest public collection of her works in the world. It was also the first museum in France dedicated to a woman artist.
One of her most iconic and finest works is the sculpture The Wave, in onyx and bronze, from 1897. The piece is unusual in that it shows, in stone, the element of water as the main compositional element. As a rule, sculpture at the time depicted people: their best angles, movements and features, everything that could be conveyed through the plasticity of the human body. In this sculpture, however, a wave rises high, as if captured a second before crashing down on three small female figures directly beneath it. Compared with the women, the wave is huge and powerful, impossible to withstand, and this is shown in their movement: they crouch, having seen it above them, awaiting the water’s collapse upon them. Looking at the three female figures holding hands, one cannot help recalling the Three Graces of Greek mythology, a symbol of elegance, charm and beauty that bestow creative inspiration on artists. Like those depicted in Botticelli’s Primavera. But with a big difference.
Camille’s Graces are restless. They are frightened and waiting for the inevitable, and, most importantly, two of them are not holding hands. The unbroken ring of the women’s joined hands, a symbol of unity and harmony, is broken open in this sculpture. Into this gap, into this rupture, chaos rushes with great force, represented as the element of water. The two elements of the sculpture, the unclasping of hands and the great wave, seem connected. As if it were the loss of the possibility of engaging with chaos through art, creative inspiration, the search for harmony in form and meaning.
Indeed, in Camille’s biography this sculpture was created during a difficult period of her life and became a kind of premonition of impending disaster. Some time later Camille Claudel needed psychiatric care and was placed in a hospital, where she remained for a very long time. After her mind clouded, she did not create a single work.
The bond between these two geniuses at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries became an inspiration for Rodin and fatal for Camille. Even so, she left a small creative legacy recognised as high art, and the strong influence she had on her lover can be traced. For a long time after Camille’s death her name was forgotten, but in 2017 a Camille Claudel museum opened in the small town of Nogent-sur-Seine. It holds the largest public collection of her works in the world. It was also the first museum in France dedicated to a woman artist.
One of her most iconic and finest works is the sculpture The Wave, in onyx and bronze, from 1897. The piece is unusual in that it shows, in stone, the element of water as the main compositional element. As a rule, sculpture at the time depicted people: their best angles, movements and features, everything that could be conveyed through the plasticity of the human body. In this sculpture, however, a wave rises high, as if captured a second before crashing down on three small female figures directly beneath it. Compared with the women, the wave is huge and powerful, impossible to withstand, and this is shown in their movement: they crouch, having seen it above them, awaiting the water’s collapse upon them. Looking at the three female figures holding hands, one cannot help recalling the Three Graces of Greek mythology, a symbol of elegance, charm and beauty that bestow creative inspiration on artists. Like those depicted in Botticelli’s Primavera. But with a big difference.
Camille’s Graces are restless. They are frightened and waiting for the inevitable, and, most importantly, two of them are not holding hands. The unbroken ring of the women’s joined hands, a symbol of unity and harmony, is broken open in this sculpture. Into this gap, into this rupture, chaos rushes with great force, represented as the element of water. The two elements of the sculpture, the unclasping of hands and the great wave, seem connected. As if it were the loss of the possibility of engaging with chaos through art, creative inspiration, the search for harmony in form and meaning.
Indeed, in Camille’s biography this sculpture was created during a difficult period of her life and became a kind of premonition of impending disaster. Some time later Camille Claudel needed psychiatric care and was placed in a hospital, where she remained for a very long time. After her mind clouded, she did not create a single work.