Camille Claudel.
Her identity should be that of a talented female artist born in France in the 19th century.
The birth of a talented female artist
For the first two decades of her life, Camille was arguably possessing everything that many people envied.
She has a decent family.
Camille was born in France in 1864 to a wealthy Catholic family, her father working in a bank, and her younger brother was the famous French poet Paul.
Movie "Rodin's Lover"
The Creator also endowed her with an excellent artistic talent.
In that era when men dominated the field of art, Camille began to show a passion for sculpture, becoming fascinated by stone and soil at a very young age.
Although her brother and mother could not accept that Camille would be addicted to "art"," something that only men could participate in at the time, let alone "play" with something as "dirty" as mud.
But fortunately, she had her father's support.
As a child, Camille had no formal education, but she had been reading extensively in her father's well-stocked library.
By the time she was 12 years old, she had begun experimenting with sculpture with clay.
At the age of 13, her work appeared for the first time in the Artists' Salon. His early works, Napoleon and Bismarck (both of which no longer exist), caught the attention of Alfred Boucher, a well-known sculptor of the time.
At Alfred's suggestion, Camille's father sent her to the Collarosi Academy of Arts in Paris and became Alfred's student.
Moreover, in order to support her daughter's learning and creation.
Camille's father also had his wife and another daughter accompany her to Paris, while he himself worked far away to support the family's financial resources.
For this reason, Camille's mother was full of complaints.
The Colarossi School of the Arts was very forward-looking in the environment in which the students were educated.
Not only is it different from other art colleges dedicated to men, but it is willing to admit some excellent female students.
They also allow female students to use male nudes as objects.
Camille took up the early stages of her studies here and opened her own studio with other female classmates, in which a girl named Jesse became her lifelong friend.
Her earliest surviving works also originate from this period.
It was also at this time that her teacher-student relationship with Alfred had grown deeper.
For this purpose, Camille once carved a bust of her mentor.
Alfred also portrayed Camille Claudel Lisante in 1882.
The sculpture is a powerful illustration of Camille's not the typical woman of her time: she was not just passionate about her highly original artwork. More importantly, she also succeeded in making everyone around her "see" her different.
Alfred's usual works usually show the lazy and seductive bodies of women, but his portrayal of Camille is extremely exceptional:
Camille sat demurely with her eyes closed, holding a book in her hand.
Alfred's Camille
This time, he is not portraying a woman full of sexual overtones, but Camille who is committed to thinking and self-improvement.
Lover and muse
As mentioned earlier, Camille Claudel's identity is supposed to be a talented female artist born in France in the 19th century.
Because if the trajectory of fate is not broken, perhaps Camille will continue along the path she was on.
Her talent and wisdom will be known to more people, and her name will be like a dazzling star shining on the night dome of art, along with the famous masters in history.
But everything is always yin and yang.
Camilla's mentor, Alfred, left Paris for Italy after an award.
Before leaving, out of concern for his beloved disciple, he handed over Camille to another master of sculpture: August Rodin,
I hope that he can take over his identity and lead his proud protégé to further on the road of art.
But no one expected that his "introduction" this time changed Camille's life.
Yes, Camilla's more well-known identity than the "title" of "talented female artist" was born when she was just starting out and about to shine in the art world.
She was the muse and lover of August Rodin, an epoch-making figure in the art of sculpture that was celebrated by later generations.
Many people who don't know Camille may feel strange when they hear her name.
But no one should not know Rodin.
His name was always followed by a long list of titles—
August Rodin
The most influential French sculptor of the 19th century and an epoch-making figure in the history of Western sculpture;
He is the master of traditional sculpture art in Europe for more than 2,000 years and the creator of new sculpture art in the 20th century.
Creator of the famous sculpture "The Thinker".
The Thinker
Camille and Rodin first met in 1883 (the exact date remains to be seen).
Rodin was in his forties and Camille was about twenty.
Whether it was the enviable work she first showed Rodin — the realistic Bust of Old Helen and the astonishing and mature Paul of 13;
Camille
Or the beauty and enthusiasm of Camille herself, as described by her brother, the French poet Paul Claudel: "The head of Xuan Ang, the shade of the brilliant eyes, a rare deep blue eyeball." It is almost only found in novels. Wide mouth, proud and plump. Hearty chestnut hair hangs straight down to the waist. Its demeanor is amazingly bold, cheerful, superior and cheerful. ”
Both deeply attracted Rodin.
So, in 1884, Camille became Rodin's student and assistant.
Although her task did not seem to be very clear when she first came to Rodin's side, Rodin did entrust her with a heavy responsibility, asking her to assist him in many works.
For example, she spent a great deal of time on the sculptures of Rodin's most important hand and foot parts, especially The Gates of Hell.
Of course, during Rodin's intensive training, Camille also learned the importance of Rodin's contour sculpture and expression.
(The Gates of Hell is one of Rodin's masterpieces, when he was commissioned by the French government to design a large-scale sculpture for the gate of the French Museum of Applied Fine Arts.) ）
Hell's Gates
As is written in every novel, perhaps geniuses are always attracted to each other.
Common interests and pursuits, mutual admiration, day and night work.
It wasn't long before a flame of love burned between Camille and Rodin.
Camille was completely in love.
Rodin may be too.
But to him, Camille may be more like his muse in his artistic creation.
Although they never lived together, Camille felt that there was some distance between them.
But their love did exist really and passionately.
After "falling in love" with Camille, Rodin used Camille as a model to create a series of statues full of youthful enthusiasm.
For example, the enthusiastic "Rainbow Goddess", the delicate and gentle "Thought" and so on.
Camille & Rodin
There are many more nudes of two people burning with the flame of love – Eternal Spring, Kiss, Poet and Goddess, Game of the Goddess of the Mountains, Eternal Idol and many more.
Among them, "Eternal Spring" was originally prepared by Rodin for "The Gates of Hell".
This is enough to prove Rodin's obsession with Camille.
Rodin even signed an extraordinary "contract" for Camille, promising that she would be his only student and that he would swear allegiance to her.
Eternal Spring
But many things are two sides of the same coin.
Perhaps, Camille also tasted the madness and sweetness of love at first.
But her affection for Rodin was also the beginning of her life's doom.
Family-wise, her mother didn't like her in the first place.
Because she wasn't a boy, and her mother never supported her daughter's pursuit of art.
The exposure of her relationship with Rodin was exacerbated.
The incident infuriated her family, especially her mother.
Camille was kicked out of the house.
Economically, because it was difficult for women to make money through art at that time, she became completely dependent on Rodin financially.
She had to work with Rodin because it was the only way she could make money—only if Rodin's signatures were present at the same time, the works would receive the honors they deserved.
Many of Camille's works were sold through Rodin's help.
Camille's L'hommepenché
Career-oriented, although Camille is not without progress.
In 1886, her sculptures were again awarded at the Salon.
And her bold use of nudes in her work, and the strong emotions expressed in her works, did begin to attract the attention of art critics.
But the relationship with Rodin made Camilla's work inevitably influenced by Rodin.
As a result, she had to be in Rodin's shadow for a long time, and was compared to his works.
(There is also another theory that some of their works are very similar, and Rodin was also influenced by Camille.)
In love, the story between them is destined to be a tragedy.
Because although Rodin is not married, he already has a girlfriend Rose who has lived together for more than 20 years.
Rose was the titular wife of Rodin, and they even had children of their own.
Even Rodin was always amazed by Camille's talent and creativity.
When he mentioned her, he would always proudly declare that she was his best assistant.
But he never wanted to end his relationship with Rose.
In the eyes of everyone, Camille was only Rodin's lover.
That's all.
Rodin and Rose
Cocamel is proud, how can she accept that there are other women around her lover?
She demanded equality from the beginning. "I can't share you with others, that's a struggle for me."
As time went on, she became angry and jealous of all this, and gradually became paranoid.
How ridiculous.
Camille has loved him for more than a decade and has given him countless creative inspirations.
The ten years they spent together was the peak of Rodin's creation.
Her own work is pitifully small.
With a complete heart, she was absolutely single-minded towards Rodin.
Of course, she also hoped that Rodin would also see her as his only lover and partner.
But Rodin couldn't do it.
For him, Rose gave him gentle and wordless waiting, and Camille gave him endless passion and inspiration.
Between the two, he couldn't make a trade-off.
As time passes and patience runs out.
Their feelings gradually collapsed.
In 1892, after Camille had once again beaten up a child for Rodin,
She finally made her decision:
Love is over.
Camille, who had nothing, left Rodin.
And this day, it has been about ten years since they first met.
After breaking up with Rodin, Camille began to live alone and continued her work.
She was getting poorer and more autistic.
Her family also left her and moved back to Wernav from Paris.
Although at this time she remained in contact with Rodin intermittently until 1898.
The wounds left by a decade of broken love inevitably changed the tone of Camille's work.
She tried as hard as she could to get rid of Rodin's shadow.
The Age of Maturity (1895) clearly expresses the theme of "abandonment", with dynamic composition and allegorical expression being Camille's attempt to escape Rodin's influence.
Late works also become increasingly sad emotionally.
For example, Clotho (1893) and The Age of Maturity (1895).
《The Age of Maturity,(1895)》
Although Rodin tried to continue to help Camille's artistic career after the separation, what happened before has completely destroyed Camille's trust in Rodin.
She refused any help from Rodin and was thought to be delusional, feeling that Rodin was going to persecute her.
Her mental problems grew worse and worse, allowing herself to live in loneliness and poverty.
Finally, one day, the genius girl with a warm and sensitive heart completely collapsed.
Camille took up the hammer, destroyed many of her own works, and threw the statue made for Rodin into the Seine, falling into an inevitable state of insanity.
Miserable old age
Camille was completely destroyed.
In 1913, her father, who had asked her family to move to Paris for her artistic creation, died, and no one told her.
Soon after, she was sent to an insane asylum.
She was sent in by his brother, who had once loved her dearly.
Paul Claudel
Although she had written to her family in the hospital more than once, asking her brother to come to see her.
After being discharged from the hospital, she applied to be transferred to another hospital that could be closer to her family.
In the end, her only request was to hope that someone would come to see her.
But her wish was hardly fulfilled.
Camille's later years
Camille was imprisoned for a full thirty years.
During this time, her sister came only once, her brother Paul rarely came, and her mother never saw her until her death.
Even doctors have tried to convince her family that Camille doesn't need to wait long in the hospital.
But they remained indifferent.
In 1943, Camille died.
As in the last decades of her life, no one cared about where she went.
Her body was buried in a cemetery in the shelter and transferred again to a public cemetery ten years after her death, mixed with the unknown bones, which can no longer be found today.
She begged to escape, but after she died, she was unable to return to her beloved hometown.
Ironically, her brother, the poet Paul, chose his grave very carefully during his lifetime.
He was going to be buried under a tree, next to the grave of his beloved grandson.
I also thought of the words to be engraved on the tombstone, so that my admirers can pay tribute to him today.
Looking back on Camille's life, she is like a genius born in the wrong era and in the wrong place.
It was so conservative that her mother even blamed her for "living alone."
Her talent is not recognized as it should be, and her works are not paid as they deserve.
The top of his head was forever shrouded by the name "Rodin's lover".
Even years later, the title of the film based on her was impressively written: Camille - Rodin's lover.
But she was originally a very talented creator.
She's a genius.
How did it become the inspiration muse of the big artists in lace news?
Only because of this passionate and desperate love, she burned out her artistic talent.
When she was young, she had carved so many spirited sculptures, but in the end she became the souls of those painful and unable to break free from the shackles she portrayed in her later years.
As Camille once said in the movie:
"I gave him all my rough personality, and he gave me the void in exchange."
A sigh.
Some of The Works of Camille and Rodin
【Contrast 1】The left is Camille's work, and the right is Rodin's work
【Contrast 2】On the left is Camille's work, and on the right is Rodin's work
Rodin's "Camille's Mask"
Camille's Rodin
Camille's "Croceau"
Rodin's Farewell
Camille's "Mature Age"
Camille's "Waltz" She was originally a talented female artist, but she became a vassal and mistress of the master, and she lived a miserable life for love
She was originally a talented female artist, but she became a vassal and mistress of the master, and she lived a miserable life for love