Camille Claudel was a talented sculptor who worked as Rodin’s
studio assistant from 1885, leading to a creatively fecund and
emotionally turbulent relationship that lasted until 1893. This
bronze is Claudel’s only portrait of her teacher, collaborator,
and lover, a powerful portrayal begun through life studies and
finished years later. One critic proclaimed that Claudel captured
“the calm, profound face of genius,” and the portrait became
one of the most frequently reproduced representations of its
subject. Nearby, Rodin’s likeness of his protégée and partner
adopts a more direct and spontaneous manner, with globs of
plaster left untrimmed.