In defying the mundanity of the human experience, two bodies whirl into a transcendental exploration of the turbulence between fiery passion and undulating tenderness. However, due to the source of this creation, the sculpture was forced to be reconsidered, reworked, and retracted from the eyes of viewers. La valse avec voile, sculpted by Camille Claudel, emerged from the restriction of gender inequality during the late 19th century France. By manipulating the fundamental components of art, it grapples with the unexplainable sensations of the various forms of love. The sculpture ends by surpassing the historical boundaries in the impact it has upon societies which exist beyond Claudel’s death. La valse avec voile reflects Claudel’s intrinsic determination to push social restrictions while enrapturing her scrutinization of the perpetual phenomenon of love. Historical Context The culmination of the Third Republic of France was instated in 1870, thus ending almost a century of tumultuous struggle arisen during the French Revolution of 1789. The French Revolution of 1789 promoted a publicly controlled form of government with elected representatives working for the equal rights of the people. This was favored by the bourgeoisie and lower classes who, unlike the aristocrats, were opposed to the former reign of power centered around giving privilege to the monarchy which was established upon religion and royal blood lineage. However, this progressive course was not easily executed. The storming of the Bastille commenced the French Revolution of 1789. Les déclarations des droits de l’homme de 1789 was based on the idea of the inherent rights of individuals during a progressing time in philosophy and in reason both of which were separated from the church establishment. This was followed by about sixty years of executions of the monarchy, battles, revolts and coalition wars, as well as abdications and restorations. During the Revolution of 1848, Republican riots pressed for the abdication of the monarch and inaugurated the first president in the reestablished French Republic. The first article of Les déclarations des droits de l’homme de 1789 is, as expected of the society at the time, predominantly directed towards the rights of men. It states: « Les hommes naissent et demeurent libres et égaux en droits ; les distinctions sociales ne peuvent être fondées que sur l’utilité commune. » In response to the male-dominated language, the French women of the 1870s were ready for equality of the sexes. These first-wave French feminists avoided direct aggression by demonstrations and instead influenced men in powerful positions and provoked public thought by weekly published journals, like La Citoyenne. These actions suggested that men were not the only citizens and that women had inherent rights as individuals similar to those of men. Since its founding in 1795, the government-established Académie des Beaux-Arts held Salons as forms of exhibitions to allow contemporary artists to display their work. Despite the forum for contemporary concern, the Salons held a power of influence over the content and style of the works of art created and, in addition, they controlled which artists were allowed to display their artwork based on the sex of the artist. This was essentially due to the traditional executives of the Salon whose taste in artwork determined which of the pieces were to be put on display in the exhibitions. The artworks produced during the time period of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century follow the collective conception, which was relatively guided by the Salon, of a need to portray imagery of contemporary life in an objectively accurate and truthful depiction. As a way of describing the common aspiration of representation, this time period was acknowledged as an art movement and later termed “Realism”. This movement began in the 1850s following the 1848 Revolution which promoted republic thought and brought public attention to the significance of everyday individuals. In rejecting the preceding art movements of Neoclassicism, which focused on reviving Greek and Roman techniques like idealized forms, and Romanticism, which attempted to reproduce sensory experiences especially unpleasant ones, artists during the Realism movement used daily life as their reference. The subject matter of the Realists focused on the laborers from farms and factories and also the middle-class people enjoying refreshments and conversations at the sidewalk cafés. Not only did the subject matter shift focus, but the style changed as well. The Realists no longer idealized nor sensationalized their subject matter. Instead, they created artwork with an objective eye, one that didn’t alter their observations, but constructed the work as they saw it. In 1881, Claudel first experienced the view and sights of Paris. She entered Paris during a time of radical transformations from the oppression of women. Despite her impeccable timing of improved social and economic conditions for women, advancements toward equality between male and female artists progressed slowly. Consequential of the traditional art education institutions which solely provided for male training, women artists were obligated to search for alternative art-training methods. Despite her later turmoil of increasing animosity towards Auguste Rodin for exploiting her skills as an artist, Claudel was fortunate to find him. As a prominent male artist of the time, Rodin was able to give Claudel a further education in the fine arts and advance her reputation as an artist. From 1889 to 1892, Claudel, who was inspired by her romantic passion for Rodin and confused by his refusal to be monogamous with her, created the work of art known as les Valseurs. This sculpture depicted a nude male figure dancing in an amorous embrace with a nude female figure. In her nude depictions of the lovers, Claudel challenged the restrictions placed by the Académie des Beaux-Arts upon female artists. By titling this work of art les Valseurs, Claudel was also creating social commentary on the new dance style which was gaining popularity during the time. The waltz style came to France in during the nineteenth century. The waltz was easy to learn and thus allowed any person from any social status to dance it. This encompassing style also moved at a faster tempo. The quick-paced step combined with a more intimate movement shared between two people with a radical depiction of nude dancers impelled the progress of gender equality among artists. Because of her challenge of social rules, she was unable to receive approval for a commission. Internal conflict of the inspector who represented the Académie des Beaux-Arts forced Claudel to rework the art piece. The inspector did admit to admiring the esteemed execution of the sculpture, however, the idea of allowing a woman to depict nudity in her artwork was unfathomable. One year later, Claudel had reworked the piece to include veils of modesty. This modified sculpture was titled La valse avec voile. But even as La valse avec voile was praised and exhibited, the final commission was denied by the Ministre of the Académie des Beaux-Arts because a female artist had depicted a male in the nude. Visual Components An artwork, in its innate nature, stems from the skill and the creativity of the artist. Under this classification, artwork is also able to be dissected by the elements of art, such as line, shape, space, value, form, texture, and color, and the principals of design, such as balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, pattern, rhythm, and unity/variety. These are the essential qualities used to create a piece of art and the way in which those qualities are used. The encompassing nature of sculpture creates a sensory experience which captivates the viewer to bring their conceptual perceptions within the sentiments expressed by the eternal form of the artwork. Claudel achieves this entirety of a sensory experience by mastering and manipulating the fundamental components of art. The generalized shape, that is the two dimensional geometric or organic silhouette, creates solidity and, simultaneously, movement. The simplified geometric shape of La valse avec voile is an obtuse scalene triangle. Historically the triangle is the strongest shape when compared with other polygons, because of its intrinsically rigid qualities and ability for equal distribution of weight. The sculpture thus creates a feeling of stability. The geometric shape of the triangle generates a sense of rigidness and strength. The shape is also set on one side of the triangle. This one side base parallel with the earth creates a feeling of being grounded. Claudel then manipulates the sense of stability and permanence by creating movement with the triangular shape. The various types of triangles can produce different effects within an artwork. By creating the shape of an obtuse scalene triangle with the hypotenuse exposed to the space above, Claudel intentionally established directional force. This design component draws the viewer’s eyes from the center of the base up to the focal point of the couple’s heads. The pull of the directional force contrasts with the sense of an unwavering shape. This dichotomy is symbolic both of the nature of Claudel to push social boundaries. The construction of society provides a sense of stability in various categories including familial, religious, educational, economic, and political. The stability that the society provides is representative of the sturdiness expected from a triangular shape. Claudel alters the expectation of a triangle to create the leading push of directional force. In the same way, she attempts to impel the expectations of society towards the idea that women are capable of producing art worthy of serious art training equal to the art education of men. The continuity and directional force of the texture used in La valse avec voile, render harmony and movement throughout the sculpture. The subtle texture of the hair of the woman is angled towards the right hand of the male-figure which wraps around the waist of the female figure. This texture also follows the path of the directional force created by the shape of the obtuse scalene triangle with the hypotenuse exposed to the space above. From his hand, the veils drape with consistent yet more intensely expressive texture. Upon initial observation of this sculpture, the visual complexity of the rough texture of the veil attracts the eye of the viewer to the base. The vertically diagonal transition to a more simplified texture guides the eye of the viewer along the path of the hypotenuse. The sensitive nature of the guiding movement and subtle variation of the texture thus evokes a sense of undulating tenderness within the viewer. The positive space is embodied within the solid form of the sculpture. The negative space is created by the distance of space between the solid forms. The visual weight of a sculpture is balanced through the positive and the negative space. When negative space is left open or uncontained, it remains light and does not effectively balance the weight of positive space. However, when negative space is enclosed by forms of the sculpture, it possesses a mass that works to balance the natural weight of positive space. Despite the predominance of positive space in La valse avec voile, the visual weight of positive space in the sculpture is balanced through the delicate apertures. These apertures are shaped by the enclosure of negative space like under the arm of the woman as her hand rests upon the shoulder of the man, like the slight separation of the torsos enclosed by the joining of their heads and legs, and like the space between the legs of the man enclosed by the ground. These slight apertures of negative space create organic shapes that break up the solid mass of positive space thus contributing a sensitive sentiment to the entirety of La valse avec voile. The sensitivity of these apertures suggests to the viewer the need of Claudel to explore the notion of love. Despite their initial relationship as instructor and student, as master and muse, as promoter and revering individual, the platonic relationship between Rodin and Claudel developed into a deeply passionate and intimate love. This level of love is expressed by Rodin in his letter to Claudel, he writes: « Ma Camille sois assurée que je n’ai aucune femme en amitié, et toute mon âme t’appartient ». Despite the reciprocation of love that Claudel had for Rodin, they kept their love a secret. Over time, however, Claudel could not understand the reasoning of Rodin for not leaving his longtime partner and later wife, Rose Beuret Mignon. The agonizing struggle of a ferociously passionate love affair led Claudel to fester a resentment towards Rodin for exploiting her abilities as an artist, thus eventually guiding her to spiral into a state of despondency. In La valse avec voile, the solid mass of positive space symbolizes the weight of the passionate love between Rodin and Claudel. But just as the fiery passion is balanced by the aloofness and hollowness of reality, so too is the positive space balanced by the organic apertures of negative space. Intertwining Historical Context with Visual Components Les déclarations des droits de l’homme de 1789 stemmed from a century of revolutions involving executions of the monarchy, battles, revolts and coalition wars, and also abdications and restorations. Despite the progress these rights gave to society, women were not satisfied with the male-dominated language of these rights. The first-wave French feminists worked to construct a society based on gender equality. Even with the progressive actions of feminists, government-established institutions like the Académie des Beaux-Arts, continued to administer by a traditional patriarchal method. Claudel was fortunate in the timing of her move to Paris during the radical transformations to improve the equality of women and during the moment that brought her to Rodin. Rodin was able to further the fine arts education and the reputation of Claudel. During a time of intense passion for her teacher and confusion about the phenomenon of love, Claudel sculpted two nude dancers known as les Valseurs. Despite the remarkable skill and extraordinary level of creativity displayed in this fervent and sensitive work of art, Claudel was forced to reconsider the artwork and rework it. But even with the veils of modesty in La valse avec voile, Claudel was still required to retract her work from the eyes of viewers because of the distasteful expressiveness of sexual subject matter presented by a woman. In addition to using highly controversial subject matter of the era, Claudel also manipulated the rudimentary elements of art and principals of design to explore the phenomenon of love and to question the rectitude of gender inequalities. As guided by the directional force of the triangular shape and the transition in texture, and by the smallest, most delicate aperture of enclosed negative space, the focal point is the point at which the cheeks of the woman and of the man meet. The plump nature of the kissing cheeks evokes a supple quality which contrasts with the solidity of the bronze material. The male-female dyad of forms also work to accentuate emphasis in the focal point. These contrasting qualities merge with the multiple opposing forces of the manipulated sense of stability, of the variation between complex and simple textures, and of small, sensitive apertures which break up the large mass of positive space. Each conflicting quality of the work of art facilitates the culmination of the thoughts of Claudel on the densely complex notion of love. As the two figures waltz in La valse avec voile, their simple, up-beat, sensual movements emphasize the reflection on the social issue of gender inequality raised in the late nineteenth century France and on the personal contemplation of the phenomenon of love. Bibliography
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About this PageThis page consists of analyses, interpretations, and translations for various artists, artworks, and art movements from my perspective. Explore the Archives for more. AuthorTessa Barretto Archives
September 2020
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