Camille Claudel et ses contemporaines

This lecture accompanies the exhibition co-produced by the Camille Claudel Museum, the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Tours, and the Pont-Aven Museum, dedicated to female sculptors around 1900. While Camille Claudel is widely recognized today, we must not overlook the many women who, during the same period, chose to pursue sculpture despite the obstacles posed by their social status. Through the works of some twenty French and foreign artists, the exhibition brings this circle of women to life, from Claudel’s early days in Paris in the 1880s to her institutionalization in 1913. Pauline Fleury discusses the exhibition’s origins, its various sections, the works, and the curatorial choices, while highlighting the Camille Claudel Museum’s commitment to the rediscovery of women artists.