Camille Claudel

Exhibited by Galerie Malaquais

Material Bronze #13, sand cast, Blot Edition (1905-1937)

Dimensions 43,1 x 39,6 x 17,5 cm

Place of Creation France

Status Vetted

About the Work

"My very good one, on both knees, before your beautiful body, which I embrace." Auguste Rodin, letter to Camille Claudel (c. 1886)

Is it reasonable to seek a reflection of Camille Claudel’s relationship with Rodin in this group?

Abandon is a major work by Camille Claudel, first successfully exhibited at the Salon d'Automne in 1905. Critics were unanimous in their praise of the group's expressive power, which set the artist apart from her contemporaries.

A figure of ideal love, it derives from the large plaster work Sakountala (H.190 cm, Châteauroux Museum), exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1888. Just prior to the presentation of Abandon at the Salon d'Automne, Camille Claudel completed the marble of Vertumne et Pomone (H. 90 cm, Rodin Museum), another variant of Sakountala, shown at the Salon des Artistes Français. In these three variations, the composition hardly varies, only narrative details are transformed.

Camille Claudel's dealer, Eugène Blot, is in charge of editing Abandon in two sizes (H. 62 and 43 cm). Eugène Blot cast and sold 14 copies of the small model presented here, four of which are held in public collections (Moscow, Pushkin Museum; Poitiers, Sainte-Croix Museum; Martigny, Gianadda Foundation; Nogent-sur-Seine, Camille Claudel Museum).

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Provenance

Provenance:
-Freeland Gallery, London
-1984, acquired from the Freeland Gallery by a private collector

Literature

-1905 EXPOSITION : Vauxcelles, Louis, Exposition d'oeuvres de Camille Claudel et de Bernard Hoetger, Paris, Galerie Eugène Blot, December 4th - 16th, 1905, Imp. A. Lainé, 1905, Paris.
-2001 RIVIÈRE-GAUDICHON-GHANASSIA : Anne Rivière, Bruno Gaudichon, Danielle Ghanassia, Camille Claudel. Catalogue raisonné. Third Expanded Edition, Paris, Adam Biro, 2001.
-2005 ARTICLE : Le Normand-Romain, Antoinette, "Une niobide mourant d'une flèche", in. Camille Claudel et Rodin, la rencontre de deux destins, Exhibition Catalogue, Québec, musée national des Beaux-Arts du Québec, May, 26th - Sept. 11th, 2005, Hazan, 2005.
-2023 NOTEBOOK : Turbat, Ève, Camille Claudel, Abandon, 1905, Galerie Malaquais, Paris.
-2024 ARTICLE : Ariot, Chloé, "Sakuntala in three Acts", in. Camille Claudel, under the direction of Bowyer, Emerson, Desmas, Anne-Lise, Exhibition Catalogue, Chicago, The Art Institute, October 7th, 2023 – February 19, 2024, Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, April, 2 – July 21, 2024.