The Runners
The Waltz
The Waltz
Emile Muller no14
The Waltz is undoubtedly Camille Claudel’s most famous work. Conceived between 1889 and 1893, it coincides with a period of intense artistic production and her passionate relationship with Auguste Rodin.
In 1892, Claudel applied for a state commission in marble, but the Inspector of Fine Arts rejected the first version because the dancers were entirely nude. To meet his requirements, the artist modified the work by adding drapery; however, the marble commission never came to fruition.
She then revisited the group to create a third version with less drapery and smaller dimensions, which was produced in several materials. It is this third version that is on display at the Camille Claudel Museum. Among these editions, only one known copy in flambé stoneware exists today.
In the 19th century, the waltz was the quintessential couple's dance, and balls were becoming popular across all levels of society. Yet Claudel was not interested in depicting a mere anecdote or a passing fashion. The dancers' partial nudity removes them from any specific timeframe, giving them a universal quality. In this sense, the artist aligns herself with the Symbolist movement. The swirling of the dancers and the couple's embrace convey the sensuality of the dance. The diagonal line of their bodies emphasizes a sense of imbalance, while the skirt amplifies the figures' spiral motion. In this way, the next step is already suggested: the artist captures the speed of the waltz, drawing the couple into a whirlwind that seems never-ending. With The Waltz, Camille Claudel gained the recognition of many of her contemporaries; as Léon Daudet wrote: "Only a great and broad mind could have conceived this materialization of the invisible."
Le Musée caché 2023
Exposition de photographies en plein air
Since September 2022, Nogent-sur-Seine school children have been participating in an ambitious artistic project with the Nature Association of Nogentais and photographer Philippe Brame.
Nature is the common theme of the artworks and archaeological objects "hidden" in the selected reserves by the students. During sessions at the museum and outdoors, they were able to observe, understand, write about, and photograph nature, whether real or represented.
From this project, an exhibition of photographs was born, combining the students' snapshots with the museum's artworks: to be visited throughout the summer!
Paintings
The Camille Claudel Museum houses a collection of approximately 300 paintings. The Old Master section features a select number of works from different schools, acquired by the museum through various donations."
Some 18th century paintings from Alfred Boucher’s collection are remarkable, such as Le Serpent d’airain by Corrado Giaquinto, Head of an Old Man by Noël Hallé or Turenne's Youth by Jean-Baptiste Le Prince. The Portrait of Claude Bouthillier de Chavigny (around 1643) and Le Livon by Joseph Vernet (1764) were acquired for their connections with the history of Nogent-sur-Seine and its surroundings.
The majority of the paintings date from the 19th or early 20th century. There are coherent sets of exhibits, such as the paintings by Léonce Vaÿsse donated by the artist, the paintings by Alfred Boucher acquired in conjunction with his sculptures and those by René Demeurisse donated by his daughter. Finally, the magnificent Emile Boeswillwald collection is a testimony to the roots of this family of architects and artists in Nogent, who owned a house in the commune. They mainly feature portraits and still life works.
Archaeological remains
At the beginning of the 20th century, collectors were captivated by archaeological remains, although they were usually nothing more than objects of curiosity. When the museum opened in Nogent-sur-Seine, several donors contributed a variety of artefacts to the collection, some of which disappeared during the Second World War. In 1962, André Lemoine founded the Groupe Archéologique du Nogentais (the Nogent Archaeological Group). This was a pivotal period for the emergence of archaeology as a scientific discipline and the excavations carried out by the GAN took advantage of the latest techniques, notably through aerial surveys. To preserve the discovered furniture, the GAN was granted a room in the former museum, which was closed to the public at the time. In return, they agreed to assist in the reopening of the museum, which finally took place in 1974. In 1978, a young archaeologist, Jacques Piette, was appointed curator. He undertook extensive excavations in the Nogent area up until the 1990s, and made substantial contributions to the museum’s collections. Approximately 9,000 artifacts or collections of artifacts are now preserved in the Camille Claudel Museum. Some remarkable sites include the tombs and dwellings at Les Grèves de Frécul (Neolithic), the funerary complex at Barbuise-La Saulsotte (Final Bronze Age), the Gallic sanctuary at La Villeneuve-au-Châtelot (Iron Age) and the pottery workshops excavated in the same commune (Gallo-Roman period).
Ceramics
When it was created, the museum in Nogent-sur-Seine had a very extensive collection of ceramics, which included donations from Madame Boucher and hundreds of vases and sculptures in biscuit porcelain donated by the Sèvres National Manufactory. Unfortunately, most of these objects were lost when the museum was looted during World War II.
The vases are now kept in storage, with the exception of the spectacular Ronde des enfants by Dalou. A number of biscuit porcelain and stoneware works can also be admired in the rooms, a display that has been enriched by acquisitions and new donations. The exhibition features prestigious works in which the Manufacture de Sèvres sought to illustrate its technical expertise (Les Ondines by Alfred Boucher, Le Char de Diane and Le Char de Minerve by Emmanuel Fremiet), as well as the unrivalled stoneware edition of Camille Claudel’s Waltz by the Emile Muller ceramic factory.
Camille Claudel
After fading into oblivion, Camille Claudel is now recognised as one of the great artists of her time.
She was born in 1864 in the Aisne region of France into a middle-class family and began modelling clay at a very young age, as a self-taught artist. The sculptor Alfred Boucher spotted her talent in Nogent-sur-Seine and became her first teacher. When he left for Italy, he entrusted her to a friend, Auguste Rodin. The young girl promptly joined the master’s studio and for ten years, the two sculptors shared their lives and studios, exchanging ideas, models and influences. Camille Claudel then affirmed her unique style, created a number of virtuoso works and became increasingly famous. After their separation, hurt by the constant comparison of her work with Rodin’s, she asserted her independence as an artist by completely redefining her inspiration. In the midst of mastering her art, Camille Claudel’s creativity was nevertheless thwarted by delusions of persecution. She barricaded herself in, destroyed her works and was eventually committed to a mental institution at the request of her family for the remainder of her life in 1943.
Artists
Alfred Boucher
Alfred Boucher was born in 1850 in the village of Bouy-sur-Orvin, approximately ten kilometres from Nogent-sur-Seine. His family moved to the latter in 1859, when Jules Boucher became a gardener for the sculptor Marius Ramus. The young boy discovered sculpture at a very early age, demonstrating a talent that was encouraged by his mentor.
Ramus involved him in creating the decor for the theatre in Nogent-sur-Seine: the young Boucher created a Crayfish Fisherman (located in the foyer, a work that is now lost) and part of the grotesque masks that adorn the façade. Ramus introduced his apprentice to another sculptor from Nogent, Paul Dubois, who helped him secure a scholarship to enter the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris at the end of 1871.
As a student of Augustin Dumont and Paul Dubois, he competed for the Prix de Rome from 1875 to 1879, achieving his highest ranking with the Second Grand Prize (Jason and the Golden Fleece, 1876). Nevertheless, he was able to study in Rome for an extended period (1877–1878), funded by Paul Dubois. During these years, he met the young Camille Claudel in Nogent-sur-Seine and became her first teacher.
Alfred Boucher exhibited his works at the Salon des Artistes Français from 1874 onwards and they were regularly acquired by the State. A string of successes made him a household name: Eve après la faute (Eve after the fall) (2nd class medal, 1878), Vénus Astarté (classification outside the competition, 1880), La Piété filiale (Grand Prix du Salon, 1881). This last group portrays an episode from Roman history in which the elderly Cimon, imprisoned and condemned to die of hunger, is saved by his daughter who breastfeeds him. The State commissioned a bronze sculpture of the group from the artist, which was his first public commission and his first monumental bronze sculpture. Through the efforts of Jean Casimir-Périer, then a member of parliament for the constituency, the sculpture was awarded to the town of Nogent-sur-Seine and erected between the two bridges over the Seine in 1886. The Grand Prix du Salon also helped the sculptor obtain a grant to finance another stay in Florence, Italy, from 1882 to 1884.
Back in France, Alfred Boucher conceived one of his most modern works, Au But (The finishing line), a group with spectacular momentum that the artist managed to create (1886). A few years later, he continued his work on the male nude depicted in action with the colossal figure of A la Terre (To Earth) (1890), whose pose is directly inspired by ancient sculpture, but modernised by his depiction as a digger. These two works were acquired by the State for the Luxembourg Gardens (bronze sculpture of Au But, now lost) and the Palais Galliera in Paris (marble sculpture of A la Terre). However, his greatest success was with female nudes. The sensual and elegant marble sculptures combine beautifully idealised bodies with a gentle naturalism that brings them to life. Often, areas left untouched or the folds of drapes highlight carefully polished skin tones. The large marble sculptures of the Salon were acquired by the State: Le Repos (1892) and Volubilis (1897) for the Luxembourg Museum, La Pensée (1907) exhibited at the Petit Palais Museum of fine arts in Paris. Countless smaller reproductions of these works were then produced for private customers in various sizes, in marble, bronze and stoneware.
The artist’s highly official career also afforded him numerous public commissions: Monument aux Enfants de l’Aube (Troyes, 1888), Monument to Eugène Flachat (Paris, 1897), L’Inspiration for the façade of the Grand Palais (1900), Monument to Auguste Burdeau (Lyon, 1903), Monument to doctor Ollier (Lyon and Les Vans, 1904)... Private individuals commissioned funerary monuments from him, the most remarkable of which are the allegories on the tomb of Ferdinand Barbedienne (Père Lachaise cemetery, 1894), the mausoleum of the Hériot family (La Boissière-École cemetery, 1901), the Sassot tomb (Nogent-sur-Seine cemetery, 1907), and the tomb of André Laval (Passy cemetery, 1913). He used his mastery of the female nude, both draped and undraped, to create allegories of pain, memory and posterity. After the First World War, his activity diminished and focused on war memorials. He created them by means of the innovative technique using quick-setting cement, for the municipalities to which he was associated: Nogent-sur-Seine, Bouy-sur-Orvin, Aix-les-Bains, where he had been living and working back and forth with Paris since 1885, and, not far from there, La Tour-du-Pin. He also took up painting again, which he had abandoned since the 1880s, producing hundreds of paintings, mainly landscapes and portraits.
Alfred Boucher died on the 17th of August 1934 and was buried in the cemetery of Nogent-sur-Seine, in the grave he had sculpted for his wife in 1913.
