From Library Journal
Each of the attractively designed, compact, and well-illustrated hardcover books in this series deals with a specific facet of an artist's career. As with any series, the quality of the titles vary?though the translations from the German are all dotted with odd grammatical constructions and the occasional ambiguity. Sagner-Duchting's discussion of Claude Monet's work at Giverny is a good introduction to the artist's important contribution to Impressionism as well as a careful analysis of his great series of grain stacks and water lilies. Partsch focuses on Klimt's relationships with women?both as an artist and as a man?offering a good, detailed account of Klimt and Emilie Floge (a fashion designer and perhaps his true love). The one disappointment is the work on Rodin and Claudel. Schmoll is defensive about the attention and praise given sculptor Camille Claudel in recent years (often, admittedly, at the expense of Rodin). His portrayal of Claudel in this brief book is at times quite negative and at odds with the picture that has emerged from the work of Reine-Marie Paris (Camille Claudel, National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1990). The "Pegasus Library" aims to provide a focused study of one aspect of an artist's oeuvre in an inexpensive format. Previous subjects include Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, and Vasily Kandinsky (all LJ 11/1/94). Although individual titles may be of interest to libraries, the narrow focus and variations in quality make the series as a whole an optional purchase.?Martin R. Kalfatovic, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, D.C.Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The troubled student-teacher relationship described in Auguste Rodin and Camille Claudel has attained a mythic quality over time. Of particular interest is the answer to the question, Was it true that Claudel was driven mad by her relentlessly demanding mentor? Taking a traditionalist view in an age of revisionist theory on the subject, J. A. Schmoll compares and contrasts Claudel and Rodin's work and explores the volatile personalities of two gifted artists and their influence on each other.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The relationship between Camille Claudel and Auguste Rodin was one of the most artistically fruitful and passionate turn-of-the-century love affairs. When they first met in 1883, Rodin was forty-four and Claudel a promising sculptor of twenty. Despite the positive response of critics to her early work, Claudel, however, never experienced fame and success. The tragic circumstances of her life - the last thirty years were spent in a psychiatric hospital - have led to considerable speculation and interest in this enigmatic figure. To some she seemed to offer the classic example of a woman artist who was oppressed and abused by a successful man. This book examines Claudel's family background, her relationship to her parents and brother, and her behavior as documented by friends and family to determine to what extent her innate mental instability led to her eventual breakdown. What were the circumstances surrounding her commitment to an asylum and how did her family and Rodin react to her illness? Further, the author critically examines the relationship between the two artists: to what extent did they influence each other? How did Rodin really treat Claudel? Finally and most importantly, Claudel's oeuvre is investigated in terms of her biography and in relationship to her contemporaries in an attempt to evaluate her work as a sculptor and to understand the personal and artistic crisis she underwent after severing her relationship with Rodin.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal