''The Waltz'' (French: ''La valse'') or ''The Waltzers'' (French: ''Les valseurs'') is a sculpture by French artist

Camille Claudel Camille Rosalie Claudel (; 8 December 1864 19 October 1943) was a French sculptor known for her figurative works in bronze and marble. She died in relative obscurity, but later gained recognition for the originality and quality of her work. The ...

. It depicts two figures, a man and a woman, locked in an amorous embrace as they dance a

waltz The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wa ...

. The work was inspired by Claudel's burgeoning love affair with her mentor and employer

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...

. Various versions were made from 1889 to 1905, initially modelled in plaster, and later cast in bronze. Examples are held by the

Musée Rodin The Musée Rodin ( en, Rodin Museum) in Paris, France, is a museum that was opened in 1919, primarily dedicated to the works of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. It has two sites: the Hôtel Biron and surrounding grounds in central Paris, as ...

and the

Musée Camille Claudel The Musée Camille Claudel is a French national museum which honors and exhibits the art of sculptor Camille Claudel. The museum displays approximately half of Claudel's existing artwork. The Claudel museum was opened in 2017 in her teenage home to ...

Background

Claudel was studying with

Alfred Boucher Alfred Boucher (23 September 1850 – 1934) was a French sculptor who was a mentor to Camille Claudel and a friend of Auguste Rodin. Biography Born in Bouy-sur-Ovin (Nogent-sur-Seine), he was the son of a farmhand who became the gardener of the s ...

in Paris when she was first introduced to Rodin in 1883, when she was aged 19. She joined his studio around 1884, where she assisted him with ongoing works such as his '' Gates of Hell'' and ''

Burghers of Calais ''The Burghers of Calais'' (french: Les Bourgeois de Calais) is a sculpture by Auguste Rodin in twelve original castings and numerous copies. It commemorates an event during the Hundred Years' War, when Calais, a French port on the English Ch ...

''. She also worked on her own sculptures under Rodin's guidance. They quickly fell into a passionate romantic relationship. Claudel became increasingly frustrated with Rodin's unwillingness to break away from his long-term mistress,

Rose Beuret Rose Beuret, born Marie Rose Beuret on 9 June, 1844 in Vecqueville (Haute-Marne) and died on 14 February, 1917 in Meudon, was a French seamstress and laundress, known to have been one of the muses and, for 53 years, the companion of Auguste Ro ...

, and their love affair ended in 1892. Claudel and Rodin continued to work together until 1898, but their relationship deteriorated irretrievably after Rodin saw her transparently autobiographical sculpture '' The Mature Age'', which depicts a young woman pleading with her older lover to leave his female companion.

Description

Claudel began working on ''The Waltz'' in about 1889, while her relationship with Rodin was still passionate. As originally conceived, the work depicts two naked dancers, a man and a woman, in a dance hold, frozen at a moment in time in their amorous embrace. The woman's head rests tenderly on the man's right shoulder, with their bodies fluidly merging into a single shape as the man turns his head towards the woman's face as if to kiss her. Claudel continued to work on the subject for several years, eventually seeking a public commission to create a half-life-size marble version. Her plaster model of the sculpture was reviewed in 1892 by the art critic

Armand Dayot Armand Dayot, (19 October 1851 – 2 October 1934), was a French art critic, art historian and leftist politician. He was born in Paimpol, Côtes-d'Armor, Brittany. He founded the journal ''L'Art et les artistes'' and the Breton liberal organisat ...

, who was working as an inspector for the French Ministry of Beaux-Arts. In his report to the ministry, he praised the sensuality and expression of the work, and the modelling of the figures, but concluded that it was not acceptable for public display due to the indecency of the naked dancers. In response to Dayot's comments, Claudel reworked the sculpture, draping the lower half of the female figure with a flowing skirt which billows out with the twisting movement of the waltzing dancers, and curled around the dancer's heads. Dayot reviewed the amended plaster model in 1893: he was impressed with the sense of movement added by the drapery, and supported the new work, known as ''La valse avec voiles'' ("The waltz with veils"). He described it as "un gracieux enlacement de formes superbes balancées dans un rythme harmonieux au milieu de l'enveloppement tournoyant des draperies" ("a gracious intertwining of superb shapes balanced in an harmonious rhythm among swirling drapes"), concluding that Claudel was an artist with great talent. Claudel exhibited this revised plaster model in 1893 at the

Paris Salon The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial ar ...

of the

Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts (SNBA; ; en, National Society of Fine Arts) was the term under which two groups of French artists united, the first for some exhibitions in the early 1860s, the second since 1890 for annual exhibitions. 1862 Es ...

, but the minister

Henry Roujon Henry Roujon (1 September 1853, Paris – 1 June 1914, Paris) was a French academic, essayist and novelist. Roujon was the secretary of Jules Ferry, and became director of Fine Arts in 1894. Later he was named secretary for life of the Acad� ...

deemed it unacceptable for a woman to be given a public commission for artwork which included a naked man. Despite support from Rodin, the ministry declined to commission a marble version. Emulating Rodin's reuse of figures from earlier sculptures in his later works, Claudel adapted the female figure from ''The Waltz'' as the figure of ''Fortune'' in her 1904 bronze cast.

Casts

The original plaster version was bought by the founder and in 1893 produced in a single bronze cast the first version of ''The Waltz'' sometimes known as ''La valse avec voiles''. Claudel worked on modified versions of ''The Waltz'' from 1895 to 1898, removing the drapery around the dancers' heads to make their faces visible. Claudel made several versions of this modified sculpture, with slightly differing poses, and presented sculptures to several of her friends and acquaintances, including

Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most infl ...

, Robert Godet and

Frits Thaulow Frits Thaulow (20 October 1847 – 5 November 1906) was a Norwegian Impressionist painter, best known for his naturalistic depictions of landscape. Biography Johan Frederik Thaulow was born in Christiania, the son of a wealthy chemist, Hara ...

. The founder and art dealer bought the rights to reproduce the sculpture from Siot-Decauville around 1902, and also bought the unique bronze cast of the first version. Blot sold this cast, and it was held in a private collection in Sweden until 1950, and then in another collection until sold at

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

in June 2013, for £5,122,500. Blot also made bronze casts of the second version in 1905; he envisioned an edition of 50, but only 25 were made. In addition to the bronzes, other examples exist, including a green-glazed

stoneware Stoneware is a rather broad term for pottery or other ceramics fired at a relatively high temperature. A modern technical definition is a vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non-refractory fire clay. Whether vi ...

version, one of four versions exhibited together at the

Nogent-sur-Seine Nogent-sur-Seine () is a commune in the Aube department in north-central France. The headquarters of The Soufflet Group is located here, as is the Musée Camille Claudel. The large Nogent Nuclear Power Plant is located here. Population Pe ...

near Paris.

Sales

Several examples have been sold at auction in recent years, with prices increasing considerably. * There were two sales of bronze casts of the second version at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is owned by Groupe Artémi ...

in New York in 2000, with one sale at $204,000 and the other at $281,000 * A cast of the second version sold at Christie's in London in 2011 for £724,450, one at Sotheby's in New York in May 2013 for $1.865 million, and one in Paris in 2014 for €829,500 * The only known cast of the first version was sold at Sotheby's in London in June 2013, for £5,122,500 * A small cast, described as a ''petit modèle'' of the second version, was sold at Sotheby's in New York in November 2013 for $869,000 * A cast, described as a ''grand modèle'' of the second version, was sold in London on 20 June 2018, with a pre-sale estimate of £700,000 to £900,000 File:Camille Claudel, "La Valse", 1889-1905, bronze fonte (2).jpg, Cast of the first version, at La Piscine Museum, Roubaix, in 2015 File:La Valse par Camille Claudel, Paris.jpg, Cast of the second version, at the

, Paris, in 2011

References

''La valse''
Musée Camille Claudel
Rodin and Camille
Musée Rodin

Musée Rodin, la boutique
The sexual ecstasy of Camille Claudel – and why it proved too much for the establishment
''The Spectator'', 8 April 2017
The genius of Camille Claudel
''Apollo'' magazine, 13 May 2017

Web Gallery of Art
The sensual world: Camille Claudel's erotic sculptures – in pictures
''The Guardian'', 24 March 2017
Camille Claudel and the Marquise de Maillé

Lot 120, Camille Claudel (1856-1943), ''La valse, deuxième version''
Christie's New York, 9 May 2000
Lot 113, Camille Claudel (1864-1943), ''La valse''
Christie's New York, 9 November 2000
Lot 433, Camille Claudel, ''La valse ou Les valseurs''
Christie's London, 10 February 2011

Sotheby's New York, 7 May 2013

Sotheby's London, 19 June 2013 * ttp://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2013/impressionist-modern-art-day-sale-n09036/lot.351.html Lot 351, Camille Claudel, ''La valse, petit modèle'' Sotheby's New York 7 November 2013
Lot 10, Camille Claudel (1864-1943), ''La valse''
Christie's Paris, 25 March 2014
Lot 41, Camille Claudel (1864-1943), ''La valse or Les valseurs, grand modèle''
Christie's London, 20 June 2018 {{DEFAULTSORT:Waltz Sculptures by Camille Claudel Bronze sculptures Sculptures of the Musée Rodin Dance in art