When it comes to Camille Claudel, many people probably don't know who she is, but when it comes to Rodin's lover, I'm afraid everyone knows who it is. Her own name has been forgotten, leaving only this seemingly gorgeous and empty title, which has long been known, especially since the global release of the film "Rodin's Lover" starring Isabelle Adjani, Camille's romantic and bumpy life, and her story with the sculptor Rodin has long been a household name.
Recently, I borrowed a copy of Camille's biography, "Crazy for Love" (published by International Culture Publishing Company in 2003), which gave me a clear understanding of the life of this extraordinary woman, "Rodin's lover", a unique female sculptor. The book is accompanied by a large number of pictures, which gave me a closer understanding of her legendary life, her artistic pursuits, and the limited number of sculptures left behind with a strong artistic appeal. One of the bronze sculptures, called The Waltz, is particularly heartwarming...
Young Camille Claudel
Camille Klodale was born in 1864 in a small village in France, the eldest daughter of the family, but the second child, because the first boy only lived for more than ten days and died, so the mother was full of grief, full of hostility to the newborn girl, Camille's birth only brought great joy and comfort to the father, but the mother could not forget the pain of losing her son, Camille has been very cold, plus Camille has been stubborn since childhood, naughty, wild and difficult to tame, without the girl's well-behaved quiet, so it is even more annoying to the mother.
As a teenager, Camille, with the support and help of his father, entered the studio of the sculptor Boucher to study sculpture, and was later recommended by Boucher to enter Rodin's sculpture studio to study. Camille was only 19 years old at the time, beautiful and dignified, full of youth, and their love story began at this time. Camille became Rodin's lover, student, model, first assistant, and even rough carver. She worked passionately for Rodin, contributing her beautiful youth, loyalty and love, a sacrifice that was utterly unrighteous, and she naively expected Rodin to give her the same response—artistic support and loyal love.
However, Rodin obviously could not do it, and the more Camille was duty-bound and self-sacrificing, the more Rodin was worried and difficult to choose. He was afraid of hurting and supporting him all the way, unconditionally obeying his old lover Rose, carrying irresponsible insults, afraid that his relationship with Camille would damage his dealings with the upper class, and in the end, although he did love Camille and regarded her as a rare source of inspiration and emotional pillar, he cherished his artistic achievements and his honorary status.
In a fifteen-year long love-hate entanglement, Rodin gradually became famous, becoming a master of art sought after by the upper class, and enjoying his old age with Ross ann under the gorgeous aura. Camille, on the other hand, finally got rid of Rodin's entanglement completely, persevered by overloading herself in her sculpture studio, and gradually became forgotten and impoverished, she had to sell her beloved paintings sent by friends in order to buy materials, and even suffered from three rough carvers because she could not pay the workers on time. These unfortunate experiences stimulated Camille's increasingly fragile and sensitive nerves, and there was no longer the comfort of love, pushing her to madness day by day. No matter how poor and difficult, she resolutely refused Rodin's assistance, did not want to continue to live in the shadow of his master, gave up her artistic pursuits, originally for love she was willing to give up, regret that Rodin could not give her the love she wanted, so why contact? His kindness would only irritate her more and hurt her.
Even in the initial love affair, Camille still had naïve illusions about the master, but once in Rodin's studio, he saw Rodin with another female model. This great stimulus made her realize that the greatest enemy of her love may not be just Rose, but the famous master of art Rodin himself. There were also many unclear women in his life, models, high-class noblewomen, prostitutes, which were the source of his physical pleasure, and the pure love of Camille's fantasies was impossible for him to achieve. In this love-hate torment, Camille was twice pregnant, miscarried twice, and never married. Rodin tried to balance old love with new love, and he didn't want to let go, but Camille couldn't bear to share his love with others, and she couldn't bear the humiliation and burden of Rose, so she had to flee.
During this time, Camille and Debussy met, when she was only 26 years old, and the latter was 28 years old, already a rising star in the French music scene. There was a time when they met often, when Debussy taught Camille to enjoy music, and Camille would paint portraits of him, and they had endless common topics, they both liked the paintings of the English painter Tana, the weird novels of Edgar Allan Poe, where Camille had a rare laugh, and this simple pleasure rodin could not give her.
The story of Camille's association with Debussy may not be clear to anyone else, except that this small episode ended quickly. Maybe Debussy had once pursued her and courted her, because he did love this ghostly pretty girl deeply, and how could the strong feminine charm and artistic personality she exuded not attract him? But Camille eventually rejected Debussy. Now we can't understand her mood at that time, what was she thinking? Why not try to cross that damn step and step out of Rodin's shadow? Instead, Flinching and continuing to sink in the end of love? Until destruction, collapse. In the years to come, she will continue to entangle with Rodin in a single way, consuming her youth, life, artistic talent, career pursuits, and even a sound mind little by little, for which she will pay a heavy price, not only to achieve nothing, but also to suffer thirty years of long torture in the madhouse...
waltz
We know nothing, only that five years later, the 31-year-old Camille completed this sculpture "Waltz", which is completely unlike her other works of love themes (such as "Maturity", "Shagundaro", "Meditation"), and is filled with Rodin's shadow, recording her love-hate entanglement with Rodin. "Waltz" is a musical work, it embodies the rhythm of love, with a musical rhythm. At the same time, it is the perfect presentation of Camille's ideal of love. Naked lovers dance in their arms, but do not give people the sensual stimulation of carnal desire, on the contrary, it moves quietly, and in stillness there is the confusion and fanaticism of love, it is elegant, pure, and beautiful, exuding a quiet lonely and sad tone, because this pair of lovers has become one in the dance. They were swinging in the wind, dancing gracefully and romantically, as if they were no longer the dance of two flesh bodies, but two beating hearts, two hot souls, they seemed to melt in this soft melody, rising like light gas...
Through this statue, Camille commemorates a musical past with Debussy, casting her unforgettable memories and fleeting joys into it, as well as the endless sorrows that Rodin brought her, the beautiful love that could not be realized. Scarred, she longed to rest on that shoulder, but Rodin could not give it to her, And debussy might not be able to, the dancing man was not anyone, he must have just come from the imagination of Camille's romantic soul, just like this young, mature, loyal... Camille recorded a beautiful moment in her heart, leaving it to Debussy while she continued her own uneven life path.
Looking at this romantic and beautiful work, thinking of the author's painful, crazy and desolate life, we can't help but sigh and cry.
Camille Klodale, the woman who has always persistently pursued art and love, has composed a sad and moving song of life with her life, no one can match, more irreplaceable, she is the lover of the appropriate Rodin, Rodin is her first and last lover, it is in the beauty of her youth, her artistic passion under the influence and inspiration, Rodin created a large number of unique style of sculptures, such as "Kiss", "Thought", "Eternal Idol", she was the goddess of Rodin's worship, Repeatedly appearing in many of his works, and even the prototype of the feminine female body in many of his works, through sculpture, Camille has long been integrated with Rodin, regardless of each other, we can say that Camille has achieved a generation of sculptor Rodin, making the halo on his head more and more dazzling, while she herself has always been obscure and has nothing.
She gave herself in this way, and the remaining limited time, she left herself, under limited and difficult conditions, to strive to complete her artistic dream, although it was far from enough for her to express her ideals and pursuits, but there was no choice, no regrets. I think that Camille has tried his best to give a meaning to his crazy and restless life, that is, Rodin's lover and unique female sculptor: Camille Klodère. With her nature, she can only do so, and presumably does not regret it, in fact, no matter what kind of title, it is only a humble and remarkable slave dedicated to the art of sculpture.