Three months of work were necessary at the Camille Claudel museum in Nogent-sur-Seine (Aube) to restore certain technical aspects of the place requiring access to the large central room. Taking advantage of the winter lull to make them, the museum will thus reopen its doors this Saturday, April 5 with new acquisitions and works deposited by both the Abbeville museum and by a private collector. He thus continued to expand the presentation of his collections of sculptures from the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.
Six new works, including three by Camille Claudel, can be admired by visitors, some recently acquired, and others exceptionally loaned. “We present two marble busts of Camille Claudel, representing the countess of Maigret and her son Christian”, explains the chief curator of the museum, Cécile Bertran. Two works that join the visit route thanks to the loan of a particular collector.
“Camille Claudel met the countess of Maigret around 1897,” says the chief curator. “Having left Auguste Rodin and her influential network, she was looking for new supports. The countess has become one of her greatest supporters and commissioned several important marble works to her, including Perseus and Gorgon And these two portraits. »»
The third sculpture of the sculptor, “The Psalm”, was loaned for a long time by the Museum of Archeology and Fine Arts of Abbeville, currently under construction. “The artist took over the female figure of the group Fines And wrapped it in a Tourangelle headdress on which we can discover the decorative qualities of the learned game of folds which unfolds like a fan on the back of the work, ”specifies Cécile Bertran.
Models in the spotlight
Two other works were given to the museum: “The embroiderer”, A bronze from a preparatory sketch by Jules Dalou, and the bas-relief in wax “young girl profile”, from Alfred Boucher. The last work was acquired by preemption on public sale. It is an Alfred Boucher wax sculpture similar to the “Pieta” of plaster preserved at the Saint-Laurent church in Nogent-sur-Seine.
These new features will be in the spotlight of a visit led by Cécile Bertran, on Saturday April 5 at 4 p.m. Sunday April 6 at 10 am, sculpture from living model will be in the spotlight. Unmissable exercise for the artists of the time of Camille Claudel, accustomed and curious will benefit from the singular look of the sculptor Frédéric Marquis, accompanied by Félicia Fortuna, who will evoke his profession as a model in the face of the sculpted characters. Then, at the workshop, the group will apprehend the sculpture from model by practice.
A playful space
This April 5 is also when the small living room reopens, with even more activities offered, in the middle of a redesigned frame. “We will find drawing workshops, modeling in connection with the collections, which are really intended for all ages,” presents Cécile Bertran. “A game of the seven families was produced by an artist and with families who are linked to sculpture, materials, a Camille Claudel family with those around him, etc. »»
The new most original activity is a game of imitating sculpture poses, which can be tried in space now reserved for groups. “It was a request that we had had during the first edition, especially from leisure centers who wish to be able to come with a small group of children to take advantage of all the activities, while continuing their discovery of the museum’s collections,” notes the curator.
To finish this month of April in style, the museum invites young and old to celebrate the spring, on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 April, on the occasion of its now unmissable event “the family weekend”. Around the theme of nature, many activities promise a spring reverie: dance show, visit for babies from 9 months, family -staggered visit, animated film or collective modeling and investigation game. Original ways of discovering or rediscovering the 200 works of the Camille Claudel museum, which offer an immersion in French sculpture between 1880 and 1914.