Tag: sculpture

Camille Claudel: The Famous Sculptor Who Changed The History Of Art

Camille Claudel a French sculptor who broke moulds for women in art. Claudel “The Age of Maturity” legend whose achievement has left a lasting legacy and universally acknowledged as a great sculptor in her own right. 

By Sindhu Shivdas

Throughout history, there has been a famous sculptor who has withstood the test of time. Perhaps they are valued for their ability to create highly realistic figures or maybe they are prized for their willingness to push boundaries and defy expectations. Camille Claudel is one of the names that stood the test of time.

Bio:

Playing in two dimensions is easy enough, but what truly separates the women from the girls? Maybe it’s when you give up your easel for a tool belt and get to work with hammer and chisel. Such a sculptor was Camille a unique artist deeply involved in creating and constantly trying to open new doors.

Camille Claudel was born in 1864 in Fere-en-Tardenois, France. The French sculptor who defied gender based restrictions to pursue her art, She did her art studies at the Academie Colarossi in Paris, one of the handful of progressive art schools that accepted women students. Sculptor Alfred Boucher one of the most celebrated French sculptor of the late 19th century took Claudel under his wing and became her mentor for over three years, before moving to Florence.

Under Boucher’s guidance, she rented a workshop in 1882 with other young women sculptors including English sculptor Lipscomb. Claudel recognition for artistic talents came retrospectively and she is also remembered for her dramatic relationship with renowned sculptor Auguste Rodin. A major turning point in Claudel’s professional and personnel life occurred in the autumn of 1882, when Alfred Boucher left paris for Italy and asked his friend, the renowned sculptor Auguste Rodin, to take over supervising Claudel’s studio.

Being Rodin’s only female student, Claudel quickly proved her talents through contributions to some of Rodin’s most monumental works, including the hands and feet of several figures in The Gates of Hell. Working with Rodin she became romantically involved with him.

Camille Claudel and Auguste Rodin Passionate Love Affair

Claudel and Rodin shared a connection beyond sculpture, and by 1882 the pair was engaged in love affair.  Rodin was a married person got infactuated with Claudel’s style and encouraged her to exhibit and sell her works. He also used Claudel as a model for both individual portraits and anatomical elements on larger works, such as La Pensee and The kiss.

Since there was gender-based discrimination which was rife in the art world, Claudel couldn’t release some of her daring sculpture ideas and she turned to Rodin to collaborate with her in order to get them made. And this instead made Rodin to receive credit for her ideas. This led to the breakdown of their long-term relationship and Claudel struggled to gain recognition of her own.

Camille Fighting For Recognition

Although continued to be productive through the first several years of the 20th century, the loss of Rodin’s public endorsement made her to struggled to find support. And moreover commisions of her work were scant due to her highly individual style which did not suit conserative tastes at the time, which paved her to mental illness and poverty. Continue reading “Camille Claudel: The Famous Sculptor Who Changed The History Of Art” →

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Artist ‘Humiliated’ After His Nude Sculpture Was Covered With Underwear for Paris Event

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The United Nations’ cultural agency has been criticized for covering up the genitalia of a series of nude sculptures with underwear.

Works by French sculptor Stéphane Simon, which show nude, classical-style figures taking selfies, were being displayed in Paris during UNESCO’s European Heritage Days event in September.

But officials decided to cover the offending parts of the artworks with underwear, to the shock of Simon and the ridicule of arts commentators.

Source: Artist ‘Humiliated’ After His Nude Sculpture Was Covered With Underwear for Paris Event | KTLA

Auguste Rodin, the father of modern sculpture

His figures capture the most universal of human emotions – passion, contemplation, despair. Auguste Rodin is known as the father of modern sculpture, an artist who managed to convey the drama of life in stone and in bronze. His talent and monumental works have been celebrated for a century now at the Rodin Museum in Paris. FRANCE 24 brings you a special programme on Rodin’s artistic legacy.

Watch at: Encore! – Special programme: Auguste Rodin, the father of modern sculpture

Nuit Blanche 2018. Danse avec les arbres – Saint-Merry

Imagine Saint-Merry on Saturday, October 6th. A procession of trees hanging in the nave and a carpet of leaves. Daniel Van de Velde, sculptor, writes to the community of the Pastoral Center and presents himself through his work.

These are trees, but not as you are used to seeing them. Eighteen trees fell after a storm, segmented, recessed, of which only the last growth rings remain, their most recent memory. They are suspended in the nave or placed on the floor of the church, a musical creation celebrates them. They are on a carpet of soft leaves walking. Trees in majesty, such as recumbent, not kings of stone to honor, but subjects of nature to protect.

This work will remain visible during the day, for a week.

The tree is a recurring subject in the exhibitions of Saint-Merry, which we remember in 2010, “Forests” of Eva Jospin or previously  or finally the summer exhibition 2013 , but, in 2018, the tree will dialogue with the whole architecture.

Jean Deuzemes

Source: Nuit Blanche 2018. Danse avec les arbres – Saint-Merry

From Miró to Basquiat and always Picasso- Exhibitions not to be missed in Paris this autumn

Beautiful harvest of major exhibitions this autumn in Paris, with Miró at the Grand Palais, cubism at the Pompidou Center, Nadar at the BnF, Basquiat and Egon Schiele at the Vuitton Foundation, and Picasso again and again: its blue and pink periods at the Museum d’Orsay and a reflection on the concept of a masterpiece at the Picasso Museum.

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Dorothea Lange at the Jeu de Paume
Beyond iconic images like the “Migrant Mother”, the Jeu de Paume showcases more than a hundred vintage prints by Dorothea Lange, from 1933 to 1957. An exhibition that aims to emphasize the emotional strength of the images of the one that was the first female photographer to have a solo exhibition at the MoMA in New York in 1966. Her photos of Japanese Americans interned during the Second World War are shown in France for the first time. From October 16, 2018 to January 27, 2018. Here, Dorothea Lange, “Toward Los Angeles”, 1937

© The Dorothea Lange Collection, the Oakland Museum of California

Continue Reading: From Miró to Basquiat and always Picasso … exhibitions not to be missed in Paris this autumn

“Rodin” – a film by Jacques Doillon

In Paris, 1880, forty-year-old Auguste Rodin at last receives his first state commission: The Gates of Hell, a sculptural group work composed of many figures, some of which would be the basis of free-standing sculptures that would later bring him fame, such as The Kiss and The Thinker. At the time, he shares his life with Rose, his longtime companion. He meets young Camille Claudel, his most talented student, who quickly becomes his assistant, then his mistress. Ten years of passion, but also of mutual admiration and complicity. After their break-up, Rodin relentlessly pursues his work, coping with the rejection and the enthusiasm provoked by the sensuality of his sculptures, and with his Balzac, rejected during his lifetime, he creates the uncontested departure point of modern sculpture | More at UniFrance