Loving Rodin – Tristes Amours? A Comparative Psychobiography of Camille Rosalie Claudel and Gwendolen Mary John

Abstract

Camille Rosalie Claudel (1864–1940) was an icon of French sculpting in the 19th and 20th century, while Gwendolen Mary John (1876–1939) was a famous Welsh artist who worked in France for most of her life. Claudel’s and John’s lives were strongly influenced by their brothers, who were both more famous during their lifetime than their artist sisters, and by their troubled love affairs with their mentor and lover, Auguste Rodin, the world-famous French sculptor. Both female artists expressed their inner life and their search for meaning and love in their artworks. Their love for Rodin sparked both creativity and self-destruction. The article explores and compares their love for Rodin in terms drawn from the work of Murray Bowen (1978), especially differentiation of self and relationship triangles. The psychobiographical approach adopted here is anchored to a hermeneutic–interpretivist research paradigm and is comparative in nature. The love of the two female artists is presented in the context of late 19th and early 20th century French life and art through the specifically described theoretical lens. Following the research findings, suggestions for further research are made.