User:LivvRosee/gap analysis

Gap analysis

 * What is the title of the article in which you identified a gap. If no article exists at all, what should the title be?

Camille Claudel


 * Document the gap you found, describe how you identified it, and analyze its impact on knowledge.

Camille Claudel is a name I have been familiar with since early high school, however, I rarely heard her referenced out of the context of Auguste Rodin, and am not familiar with her work as an individual. Claudel’s Wikipedia page also fails to individualize her as an artist; there is one paragraph dedicated to her work characterized as being influenced by Rodin, and work that breaks from Rodin is limited to one sentence. This all falls under a heading titled “Creative Period,” which focuses much more on her education under male artists, relationship with Rodin, and mental illness, than any of her artwork. Her page only mentions three of her pieces, Wave, the Mature Age, and Bronze Waltz,and the linked category, “Sculptures by Camille Claudel” only features The Mature Age and Perseus and the Gorgon. There are three images on Claudel’s Wikipedia page; one is a photograph of her, one is a bust by Rodin titled “Portrait of Camille Claudel with a Bonnett,” and the third is a photograph of Claudel working on a sculpture, although it does not identify which. The section titled “Legacy” discusses several exhibitions, plays, movies, and other pieces inspired by Claudel; much more than the “Creative Period” discusses Claudel’s own work. Despite her having destroyed most of her artwork 90 pieces do remain and Claudel’s Wikipedia presence should consist of more than just four sculptures, her mental illness, and relationship to Rodin. Claudel should be represented as an artist separate from her lover and mental illness. To fill the gap, a section needs to be dedicated to the works of Camille Claudel and it needs to be written in a way in which her art drives the content instead of her affair and illness.


 * Propose a paragraph of new or substantially edited content based on reliable sources. (If you are editing existing content, post the current version along with your edited version, and clearly mark which is which.)

Works

La Valse (The Waltz)

Despite female artists being banned from it at the time, Claudel was insistent of studying the live female nude for her sculptures. La Valse was created toward the end of Claudel and Rodin’s relationship between 1889 and 1905 and features a man and woman in an intimate dance. Although the two figures do not even touch, this overt eroticism created by a woman was frowned up by art commissioners, so Claudel could not receive a commission for this piece. It is 43.2 x 23 x 34.3 centimeters and currently on display at the Musee Rodin in Paris.

L’Age Mur (Maturity)

L’Age Mur features the figure of a man caught between the figures of two women, with one of them breaking away. The man is being swept away by a woman who could either be old age, or his wife, and reaching toward youth, or Claudel. This is allegorical of the love triangle in which Claudel was caught between Rodin and his wife. It was made between 1893 and 1899, the time in which Claudel ended her affair with Rodin. This is currently on display at the Musee d’Orsay.

L’Implorante (The Implorer)

L’Implorante is the same young woman featured in L’Age Mur, but created as a separate piece between 1898 and 1905. The woman is reaching her hands outward, yet unlike in L’Age Mur, the viewer cannot see toward what. The nakedness of the figure is symbolic of Claudel’s own vulnerability toward the end of her affair with Rodin. This piece is 27.9 x 36.8 x 21.3 centimeters, made of bronze, and currently on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Les Causeuses (The Gossips)

Les Causeuses were created in 1897 after Claudel separated from Rodin and began sculpting scenes from everyday life. The three figures are reminiscent of women in a train car, but evoke the images of the Fates from mythology. Claudel sculpted several iterations of this scene, with varying materials, including plaster and onyx marble.

La Vague (The Wave)

Finished between 1897 and 1903 La Vague was created after breaking from Rodin’s influence and is a reassertion of Claudel’s originality as a sculptress. This piece is inspired by Hokusai and Japonism, and is reminiscent of Art Nouveau. The sculpture is made of onyx marble and features three small figures unaware of the massive wave about to consume them. Its dimensions are 62 x 56 x 50 cm and it is currently on display at the Musee Rodin in Paris.


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