5 comments about Camille Claudel: A Life.

1. This is the most thoroughly researched biography that I have ever read, and I have read a great many. The author spent ten years seeking out every possible source that she could see that must or might have existed - even the police report of a child's stolen bicycle. This biography sets a standard that few other biographies will ever meet for quality of research.
   
   But this book goes well beyond the research. The author can write very well. And the book is a highly readable and compelling account of every aspect of Camille Claudel's life.
   
   There has been much that was unknown about her life, and that led to much speculation. Odile Ayral Clause has removed many of the shrouds that veiled Camille Claudel's life, and she has brought strong evidence to support what she has found. We now have a solid and clear view of Camille Claudel, free of speculation.



2. I read this book last year after seeing the last half of the Isabelle Adjani/Gerard Depardue film on television. The film didn't give Claudel her due. She was a very tough minded woman trying to make her mark in the intensely competitive and 99.99 percent male French nineteenth-century art world. Aside from that her chosen (from childhood) form of expression was sculpture, considered to be purely masculine and financially extremely risky. She was barred from the best art school, L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, because of her gender. Lesser schools accepted female students but charged them higher fees. At age seventeen Claudel began her studies at the Academie Colarossi, a new and equitable institution. Eventually she became Rodin's student and lover. When it became clear that Rodin would never leave his long-time partner and mother of his son in order to marry her, Claudel left him.
   
   She lived and worked under enormous pressure -- not the least of which came from her mother and sister, very conventional and rather dreary middle-class people. No doubt Claudel was eccentric and nervous because of the difficulties of her life, but she was not insane. Her mother had her committed to a mental hospital after her father died and was no longer able to protect her. Claudel was not yet forty. She never sculpted again. Claudel died a pauper at seventy-nine after living the last half of her life with the insane and other inconvenient people. Her mother and sister never visited her. Her brother visited her two or three times during her incarceration.
   
   Claudel was a genius. For a century Rodin's name overshadowed hers, but since a major retrospective at the Musee Rodin in 1984 and important exhibitions in the U.S. her work is known all over the world. Many of her pieces can be seen at the Musee Rodin in Paris.
   
   
   Ayral-Clause's biography of Camille Claudel is a great gift to English speaking readers. It is deeply researched, beautifully written, and is enhanced with many photographs of Claudel, her milieu and her sculptures. I am very glad I read it.



3. Camille Claudel was an amazing Parisian sculptress who lived far before time was good to her and this biography does her justice...finally!
   
   Born in 1864, Camille Claudel grew up with an ambition un-worthy of her sexual status. She held within her being an artistic fire that was only extinguished by supposed madness. I have the feeling that had this woman been alive today her art and her spirit would thrive. But during the 19th century women were still meant to be barefoot and pregnant with no ambition other than being a wife and mother. Claudel struggled to represent her art and her spirit was destroyed by those she loved the most. She fought against a mother who wanted to keep her quiet and reserved, she defied her brother's idealistic religious beliefs and she competed against the world renowned artiste, Auguste Rodin. Despite the odds against her she created many works of pure and exquisite beauty proving that women could surpass men if given a chance. But because of her spirited talent she was eventually relegated to a hospital for the insane due to her inability to deal with the pressures of a love not returned (with Rodin), financial ruin and a lack of respect for her hard honed works.
   
   Camille Claudel captured the struggles of love, aging and sexism in her famous sculptures: Jeune Fille a la Gerbe (1887), Giganti (1886), Vertumme et Pomone (1905), La Valse (1905), Clotho (1893), L'Implorante (1894-1905) and the magnificent L'Age mur (1902). Her abilities were innate but fine tuned through her affiliation with Auguste Rodin. In this relationship Camille flourished at first, guided under the wing of a master (24 years her senior), but she soon succumbed to his jealous competitiveness and his inability to commit fully to her love. Comparing the two sculptors one finds Claudel to be the true master because she refines lines that Rodin tends to leave unbalanced. Their competitive natures are apparent in the similarities of ideas but in my opinion Claudel outshines her "mentor." Claudel created sculptures from many mediums some plaster, some clay, many marble and even onyx, jade and bronze as well as dabbling in other art forms such as charcoals and portrait paintings. Many of Claudel's best works remain lost due to her internment and her loss of ability to control her own work. She also destroyed many of her own pieces in her angry despair believing them to be under jeopardy of being stolen by "Rodin and his gang." Thankfully the art world has managed to retain most of her great pieces and they currently reside in (of all places) the Rodin Museum in Paris.
   
   This biography is a wonderful read being both interesting and factual and additionally very well written by Odile Ayral-Clause. Camille Claudel lived a tragic life full of ups and downs eventually ending in complete despair. Her life is interesting because she was one of the forerunners for women's rights in that she refused to be dominated by male society and ferociously attacked anyone who attempted to destroy her dreams, unfortunately in 19th century Paris her actions labeled her insane, remember a woman who chose to wear pants was considered a criminal unless they obtained special permission from the police to do so and it was a popular thought at the time that talented women possessed genitalia very similar to men! I think society was more insane than Miss Claudel and I will forever wonder what she could have contributed had she been born in this century. The ending of this woman's tale is heartbreaking in itself but every page in between provides an eye-opening experience of what it must have been like to be an artistic woman during an age controlled by men.



4. This book is the best, most meaningful work on Camille Claudel that I have read thus far. I highly recommend it as an accessible, informative, fascinating work that illuminates the life of one of the finest sculptors in France. Odile Ayral-Clause tells the truth, with unflinching honesty, drawing upon new documents that only came available in September 2000. She offers the details that make this woman's life come real for the reader.



5. Odile Ayral-Clause's work is excellent! I read the book from cover to cover last year and as I am now planning a trip to Paris this Spring, I am rereading the book again and enjoying it even more!

   A.C. captures so well the spirit of the woman, her social environment, and the city of Paris.

   Thank you for bringing this beautiful artist to life!

4 comments about Belleek: The Complete Collector's Guide and Illustrated Reference.

1. This book is the standard for Belleek. It is crammed full of fabulous photographs of this lovely parian china. It contains an extensive history of the pottery and those who developed this unique ware. It provides a thorough explanation of the process of manufacturing. It shows us the various marks, or backstamps and discusses their meanings. My only quibble with the book is the price guide, which is somewhat incomplete and which does not reflect the effect that online auctions have had on collecting. All in all, a wonderful book for the Belleek collector.



2. A must acquisition for collectors of this lovely Irish parian china. Covers history of the pottery, process of crafting and the names, marks and ware. Over 2,000 items pictured. A value guide of more than a 1,000 pieces, from various crafting periods, included as a bonus.



3. There are beautiful pictures of Belleek in this book, but to use it as a price guide is very difficult. For a piece, he only has one price for one mark, no other prices for other marks. For being an authority on Belleek, he could have made the price guide much easier to read.



4. Probably the best guide to Belleek China currently available. Marion Langham's later book provides more illustrations but it is Degenhardt who has filled in much of the detail and provided a systematic approach to numbering and identifying Belleek. A must for any collector of this exquisite and increasingly difficult to find china.

No comments about Museum Jean Tinguely Basel: The Collection.

No comments about Gallery of Meissen Animals.

1 comments about A Potter's Book.

1. This is now perhaps no more a historical document. Very sadly many potters have taken the book to be the bible of pottery, accepting all that is written without question. However the observations and comments within it are one man's only, and this shows considerable prejudice. Take care as there are many approaches to ceramics and it is flawed to consider anyone is the correct path. More than any other document this book has distorted generations of potters to consider that the Japanese rural tradition is superior to anything else, and hence has led to almost the homogenisation of studio ceramics. Explore other ways!

No comments about German Military Steins: 1914 To 1945.

5 comments about Origami Inside-Out (Origami).

1. I like the martian. I made one for the fourth of July and then blew him up with a firework tank and we used a piccolo pete for the scream.



2. This book is a little different from most of John Montroll's earlier books (and later books). Fans have been known to say that these models do not seem quite as realistic as many of his others. But they have missed the point.

   As the title suggests, this is inside-out origami. In other words, both sides of the paper are visible in the final model. This allows for a different level of detail (such as an actual chessboard).

   Like Montroll's other books, all models are made from a single sheet of square paper. However, these models really look best if the two sides of the paper are not the same color.

   A fun and fascinating addition to any origami library.




3. This is a very good book with models that have good color change. The racoon, cow, bluejay, and of course the chess set are excellent models. All models are from one square of paper and the diagrams are very clear just like all of John Montroll's books.



4. This book is noteable for the origami chess set, which includes instructions for all the pieces and also features a very clever design for a Chess board. The chessmen are very easy to make. The board is more challenging and before you even start it, there is the further challenge of finding a piece of paper big enough to be folded down to a fraction of its size and still be usable as a chessboard.

   The animal designs all make use of paper that is coloured on one side and white (or a different colour) on the other. The results are generally good, however the detail given to producing the tiger's stripes means that sacrifices have been made elsewhere. The end result is a rather unrealistic model. It suffers greatly in comparison to Peter Engel's stripeless tiger.

   There is a lovely elephant. Montroll seems to have a thing for elephants and the design in this book is my favourite. The Canada Goose is another well thought-out design, making good use of the dark and light sides of the paper. The penguin model is better than the one in Origami sculptures I've made about ten of them. I like penguins.

   The book begins with three terrible creations - a ghost, a 'martian', and a snowman. The latter is guaranteed to terrify small children. There are also a few geometric shapes to fold - worthy but boring.

   But the chess set - the chess set is amazing, and if you lose any of the pieces you can always fold some more.




5. It is a challenge to make the model colorful, useing two sides of a standard origami paper. Montroll shows us many wonderful examples. A complete chess-set and an incredible chess board constitutes the most exciting part of the book, as well as some well-designed animals.But the pace of the whole book seems unbalanced, with too many boring models in the first half of it

No comments about Ken Price.

1 comments about Pop-Up Paper Engineering: Cross-Curricular Activities in Design Engineering Technology, English and Art.

1. This is an excellent book for elementary teachers who want to add pop up to their projects. it creates ties to all parts of the curriculum and has easy projects for even the smallest student.

1 comments about Painting Porcelain in the Meissen Style (Schiffer Craft Book).

1. For whom beginning porcelain painting, this is proper guide book.
   We can catch a sample to follow..