Camille MAUCLAIR about Camille CLAUDEL in 1904.

Camille MAUCLAIR (1872.1945)

Signed autograph letter.

Two pages, 12mo. Saint Leu. Undated (Early 1904)

A very rare letter from Mauclair mentioning the young Camille Claudel in 1904.

“My dear friend, I might ask you to lunch on Monday. As the saying goes, wait for me without waiting for me: that is to say, I intend to come, but something might come up at the last minute. On your end, if anything comes up, don't write to me or worry; if I can't find you, I'll just run other errands, that's all. I'm not at all surprised by the affair in Le Matin, but curious to know the kind of boorishness involved, as this, in itself, was never in doubt in my predictions. The article will greatly please good old Picard. Have you asked Laurent to do a drawing outside the text (Doucet told me he had mentioned it to you, a lithograph or something like that. We could easily have something exquisite). You know that, as for Miss C., who has time to wait and for whom there's no hurry, we've agreed on Miss Claudel, and for April!” Another thing, I've just left the Pellet exhibition absolutely thrilled by genius , and I'm dreaming of writing an article about him, which I feel is more important than anyone else's. We'll talk about it. For God's sake, please forget my ignoble portrait in the Aubry brochure. Yours truly, Mauclair.

Camille Mauclair, in 1901:

It has been said of Mademoiselle Claudel that she possessed more than talent, a glimmer of genius: this is probably true; a kind of mental atmosphere akin to genius hovers around her works, and their abrupt appearance, their rough silhouette, imposed there with a magnificent heaviness, with the noble brutality of bronze and stone, bearing the full weight of their form on the grand planes, everything in them emanates the spirit of matter with that ease which is characteristic of soaring inspiration. It is heroic sculpture: Mademoiselle Claudel is the most significant female artist of our time.

Camille Mauclair, "The Art of Women Painters and Sculptors", La Revue des Revues , 3rd quarter 1901, in Jacques Cassar, Dossier Camille Claudel , Op. cit., p. 187.