Camille Claudel : L'expression farouche de l'intime

For more than forty years, Camille Claudel (1864–1943) has been established as a legend in the history of modern art. An important creator, she is also the heroine of a biographical journey that echoes the emotions and feminist convictions of a generation. What makes Claudel's work so unique, ‘is that it is entirely the story of her life,’ as her brother, Paul Claudel, wrote. This introspective obsession partly explains the singularity, and probably the late but clearly enduring success, of her work. An observer of the art world, Camille Claudel also rubbed shoulders with the literary world, at the crossroads of influences that led her to develop convictions that were much more nuanced than they appeared, without ever straying from her quest for singularity and sincerity.

Drawing on the research carried out by Anne Rivière and Bruno Gaudichon since their pioneering work on the rediscovery of the artist in the 1980s, this richly illustrated book offers, in addition to a study of the main themes of her work, a contextualised biography that brings together the sources and information available to date, as well as a catalogue of works that takes into account all the recent research on the sculptor.