Sand cast

Editioner’s stamp and numbering (on the base): EUG.BLOT / PARIS / 13

Signed (on the base): Claudel

« My very good one, on both knees, before your beautiful body, which I embrace.» Auguste Rodin, letter to Camille Claudel (1886 ?)

Is it reasonable to seek a reflection of Camille Claudel’s relationship with Rodin in this group?

Abandon is a major work by Camille Claudel, first successfully exhibited at the Salon d'Automne in 1905. Critics were unanimous in their praise of the group's expressive power, which set the artist apart from her contemporaries.

A figure of ideal love, it derives from the large plaster work Sakountala (H.190 cm, Châteauroux Museum), exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1888. Just prior to the presentation of Abandon at the Salon d'Automne, Camille Claudel completed the marble of Vertumne et Pomone (H. 90 cm, Rodin Museum), another variant of Sakountala, shown at the Salon des Artistes Français. In these three variations, the composition hardly varies, only narrative details are transformed.

Camille Claudel's dealer, Eugène Blot, is in charge of editing Abandon in two sizes (H. 62 and 43 cm). Eugène Blot cast and sold 14 copies of the small model presented here, four of which are held in public collections (Moscow, Pushkin Museum; Poitiers, Sainte-Croix Museum; Martigny, Gianadda Foundation; Nogent-sur-Seine, Camille Claudel Museum).