Camille Claudel (French pronunciation: [kamij klɔdɛl] (About this soundlisten); 8 December 1864 – 19 October 1943) was a French sculptor. Although she died in relative obscurity, Claudel has gained recognition for the originality and quality of her work. She was the elder sister of the poet and diplomat Paul Claudel and the co-worker and lover of sculptor Auguste Rodin. The national Camille Claudel Museum in Nogent-sur-Seine opened in 2017, and the Musée Rodin in Paris has a room dedicated to Claudel's works.Camille Claudel1 ([kamij klodɛl] Écouter), née à Fère-en-Tardenois (Aisne) le 8 décembre 1864, et morte à Montdevergues (Montfavet - Vaucluse) le 19 octobre 1943, est une sculptrice et artiste peintre française. Collaboratrice, maîtresse et muse du sculpteur Auguste Rodin2, sœur du poète, écrivain, diplomate et académicien Paul Claudel, sa carrière est météorique, brisée par un internement psychiatrique et une mort quasi-anonyme. Un demi-siècle plus tard, un livre (Une femme, Camille Claudel d'Anne Delbée, 1982) puis un film (Camille Claudel, 1988) la font sortir de l'oubli pour le grand public. Son art de la sculpture à la fois réaliste et expressionniste s'apparente à l'Art Nouveau par son utilisation savante des courbes et des méandres3.
Camille Claudel was born in Fère-en-Tardenois, Aisne, in northern France, the second child of a family of farmers and gentry. Her father, Louis-Prosper Claudel, dealt in mortgages and bank transactions. Her mother, the former Louise-Athanaïse Cécile Cerveaux, came from a Champagne family of Catholic farmers and priests. The family moved to Villeneuve-sur-Fère while Camille was still a baby. Her younger brother Paul Claudel was born there in 1868. Subsequently, they moved to Bar-le-Duc (1870), Nogent-sur-Seine (1876), and Wassy-sur-Blaise (1879), although they continued to spend summers in Villeneuve-sur-Fère, and the stark landscape of that region made a deep impression on the children. Camille moved with her mother, brother, and younger sister to the Montparnasse area of Paris in 1881. Her father remained behind, working to support them.
