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Lot Essay
Reine-Marie Paris has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
Danielle Ghanassia has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
‘The female form [of La profonde pensée] is one of the most beautiful subjects ever moulded by the hand of the sculptor. As is always the case with Claudel, she expresses a vivid inner movement: the joined knees, the tension in the legs, the curve of the back and the arms raised to the heavens’ (A.M Paris & A. de la Chapelle, L’oeuvre de Camille Claudel, Catalogue Raisonné, nouvelle édition revue et complète, Paris, 1991, p. 201).
Camille Claudel was interested in creating sculptures that represented the rituals of everyday life; she called them croquis d’après nature. In La Profonde pensée ou Intimité, the choice of a woman on her knees in front of a chimney as the subject for a sculpture was a remarkably modern statement in 1898 when she first conceived it, and she portrayed it with a uniquely feminine sensibility.
Also titled La Bûche de Noël, Profonde pensée was originally intended to be cast in an edition of 50. This number was consequently halved, however, and records of the Eugène Blot foundry show that only ten versions of the work were ever cast and sold, representing its entire final casting. Of these, and before the rediscovery of our cast, number 10 and number 6 were the only two known to be conceived with the fireplace in a material other than bronze. The former, with the fireplace in onyx, was Blot’s personal version. We are honoured to be able to present this version, number 9, as a recent rediscovery from a private Greek collection, modelled in bronze and onyx, and a unique example of a rare bronze by the artist in the market not seen by the public for a decade.
Danielle Ghanassia has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
‘The female form [of La profonde pensée] is one of the most beautiful subjects ever moulded by the hand of the sculptor. As is always the case with Claudel, she expresses a vivid inner movement: the joined knees, the tension in the legs, the curve of the back and the arms raised to the heavens’ (A.M Paris & A. de la Chapelle, L’oeuvre de Camille Claudel, Catalogue Raisonné, nouvelle édition revue et complète, Paris, 1991, p. 201).
Camille Claudel was interested in creating sculptures that represented the rituals of everyday life; she called them croquis d’après nature. In La Profonde pensée ou Intimité, the choice of a woman on her knees in front of a chimney as the subject for a sculpture was a remarkably modern statement in 1898 when she first conceived it, and she portrayed it with a uniquely feminine sensibility.
Also titled La Bûche de Noël, Profonde pensée was originally intended to be cast in an edition of 50. This number was consequently halved, however, and records of the Eugène Blot foundry show that only ten versions of the work were ever cast and sold, representing its entire final casting. Of these, and before the rediscovery of our cast, number 10 and number 6 were the only two known to be conceived with the fireplace in a material other than bronze. The former, with the fireplace in onyx, was Blot’s personal version. We are honoured to be able to present this version, number 9, as a recent rediscovery from a private Greek collection, modelled in bronze and onyx, and a unique example of a rare bronze by the artist in the market not seen by the public for a decade.