Camille CLAUDEL and his masterpieces The Waltz, The Thought and Fortune.

Camille CLAUDEL (1864.1943)

Autographed letter signed to Gustave Geffroy.

Two octavo pages on pale green paper. Autograph envelope.

[Paris. March or April 1905, according to the postmark]

« I would prefer that you did not show him my Waltz. »

Superb letter from Camille Claudel evoking three of her masterpieces, The Waltz, The Thought and Fortune.

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" My dear Geffroy, I just saw Blot, and we struck a small deal. He will come to see you tomorrow morning, Thursday: I would prefer that you not show him my Waltz; he would want it, and I no longer have the right to sell it to the publisher , having already ceded it to Siot-Decauville a long time ago. I therefore ask you not to let him see it (unless you have already spoken to him about it). He bought Fortune and Pensée from me. I was afraid that my last letter had not reached you. I hope to see you on a Thursday or Sunday afternoon. Sincerely, C. Claudel. I find your book more and more beautiful; your man is a poet and not a politician [ L'Enfermé, biography of Auguste Blanqui by Geffroy]."

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Gustave Geffroy (1855-1926), journalist and art critic, close to Rodin, immediately grasped Camille Claudel's artistic potential and ardently defended her work. Constantly promoting Claudel's "beautiful and scholarly work" in his articles, Geffroy championed the Çacountala exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1888 and was a staunch defender of the work during the controversy surrounding this group in Châteauroux in 1895.

As a true protector, endowed with unfailing benevolence, it was this same Geffroy who, after helping Camille sell her Rodin bust, introduced her to Eugène Blot who would exhibit eleven of his works in his gallery.

Camille gave Geffroy a copy of La Valse on February 26, 1905.

Bibliography : Camille Claudel – Letters and correspondents (RM Paris / P. Cressent – ​​Éditions Culture Economica), pages 305 and 306.