Abandon, Small version (Claudel, 1886-1905)

Camille Claudel

Abandon, Small version 1886-1905

Bronze proof with brown patina with green nuances, n°13
Conceived in 1886-1888 and reworked for the Blot edition (1905-1937)
Sand cast
Editioner’s stamp and numbering (on the base): EUG.BLOT / PARIS / 13
Signed (on the base): Claudel
H. 43.1 x 39.6 x 17.5 cm

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Provenance

  • Freeland Gallery, London
  • 1984, acquired from the Freeland Gallery by a private collector
  • 2023, March 3, Christie’s London, Impressionism, Modern Art, and Works on Paper sale, n°21612, lot n°431, acquired by the Galerie Malaquais.

Abandon, small version in public collections

  • N°2: Camille Claudel Museum, Nogent-sur-Seine (inv.2010.1.23);
  • N°6: Pushkin Museum, Moscow (inv.Ck-239, 1948 / inv.MNZJ 2, 1919, acquired by Ivan Morozov from Eugène Blot for 500 francs on November 11, 1913 / inv.GMNZI, 1923);
  • N°9: Sainte-Croix Museum, Poitiers (inv.953.11.66, on loan from André Brisson, 1953; legacy of André Brisson, 1967);
  • N°11: Gianadda Foundation, Martigny, Switzerland (no inventory number and no date of acquisition).
—The work will be included under the number 2021-0458B in the Catalogue critique de l’œuvre de Camille Claudel (The Critical Catalogue of the Works of Camille Claudel), which is currently being prepared at the Galerie Malaquais under the direction of Ève Turbat.
—The work does not need a certificate of exportation issued by the Minister of Culture for a cultural object until May 9, 2025.

 

The Three Stages of the Evolution of a Group[1]
Abandon, small version, which will be discussed here, belongs to a group of works that Camille Claudel created between 1886 and 1905. In this period of almost twenty years, the sculptor reworked this subject—a man kneeling before a woman who leans toward him—in several versions. Three were eventually shown to the public:
—The first version, Shakuntala, a larger-than-life- plaster, was shown at the Salon de la Société des Artistes Français in 1888.
—The second version, a marble with figures half life-, was shown under the title Vertumnus and Pomona at the Salon de la Société des Artistes Français in 1905.
—And finally, the third version was editioned in bronze in two s beginning in 1905 by Eugène Blot,[2] Camille Claudel’s dealer, under the title of Abandon. Abandon was shown at the Salon d’Automne in 1905.