Camille Claudel
GETTY CENTER
April 2 - July 21 2024
The trailblazing French sculptor Camille Claudel (1864–1943) defied the social expectations of her time to pursue original and powerful explorations of the human form.
During that period, few women achieved celebrity in the field of sculpture, which, unlike painting or drawing, continued to be a largely male enterprise. Densely material, largely reliant on nude models, physically demanding, and bound up in male-dominated and politicized systems of state patronage, sculpture was not considered a polite art, and Claudel’s ambitions in that arena were transgressive. Her work prompted the critic Octave Mirbeau to famously exclaim, “We are in the presence of something unique, a revolt of nature: a woman genius.”
Featuring some 60 sculptures from more than 30 institutional and private lenders, the presentation gathers her key compositions—including Young Roman, recently acquired by the Art Institute—showcasing her remarkable technical ability and innovative creations across multiple genres and materials. These range from portraiture to large-scale allegories to scenes inspired by her keen observation of everyday life, and are made in terracotta, plaster, bronze, and stone.
