Camille Claudel and Rodin
The love castle of Camille Claudel and Rodin
Follow in the footsteps of Camille Claudel and Auguste Rodin. These two great sculptors stayed at l'Islette several times in the early 1890s. Of course, they had their tempestuous love affairs there, far from Paris, but not only that. They also worked on some of their most important and famous works.
Two bronzes by Camille Claudel are on permanent display at l'Islette: La Petite Châtelaine and Loveseats.
La Petite Châtelaine by Camille Claudel
A place of creation and a source of inspiration, it is where Camille Claudel sculpted one of her major works: La Petite Châtelaine, taking as a model the granddaughter of the castle's owners at the time.
Camille Claudel completed four versions of this bust, differing in their hairstyle.
"There is ... in the very disproportion of this too powerful, too life-like head, already much too open to the eternal mysteries and the delicately childish shoulders which it reveals, something undefinable which communicates a deep anguish ... The bust proves ... that Miss Camille Claudel is henceforth a master" (Mathias Morhardt). (Mathias Morhardt).
Balzac by Rodin
As for Rodin, he worked on his famous Balzac, whose statue was commissioned by the Société des Gens de Lettres in August 1891.
"Monsieur Rodin,
You have asked me .... to write with my opinion on your statue of Balzac: I find it very large and very beautiful and the best among all your designs for the same subject ... in conclusion, I believe that you should expect a great success especially with the real connoisseurs who will find no comparison between this statue and all those which, up to now, have decorated the city of Paris. " (Camille Claudel).
Captions:
- Portrait of Rodin with a crew cut and lorgnettes by Nadar, around 1891 © Rodin Museum.
- Portrait of Camille Claudel by Cesar, around 1884 © Rodin Museum.
- Monument to Balzac S.1296, A. Rodin © Rodin Museum. (photo by Jean de Calan)