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Claudel's Bronze Statue Analysis

Decent Essays

Claudel completed his 1 foot 4 and 7/8 inch bronze statue in 1895. The piece is now being kept in a private Paris home. Due to the bronze, the statue is dying a slow painful death. The piece has Bronze Disease, which is the green moss looking substance polluting the surface of the statue. The “disease” acts like rust, so if left untreated the statue will be ruined. The positives are bronze is harder, fusible (easier t melt) and can pick up the detail when in the process of casting, giving the statue the exquisite look it has. The sculptor, Claudel, would have had to use the bronze-wax casting method to produce this piece. The details of the couple’s graceful movements are perfectly captured. The texture of the muscles and drapery heightens …show more content…

The Waltz shows a quick glimpse of the couple’s intimate scene. It reveals the meaning being post-impressionism. The form, everyday subject and overpowering passion oozing out of the everyday, yet touching dance the couple twirls to. Before The Waltz, Claudel was in a relationship with Aguste Rodin, another sculptor at the time, and Claudel is considered to be Rodin’s muse of his sculptures. The pair, split and Claudel was soon infuriate with her lack of recognition compared to her previous lover’s standing ovation. Claudel clearly depicted fin-de-siècle, French for “end of the century”, in her wonderful statue. She showed the world women could also become artist and use nudity in their form without the exotic scenes corrupting their minds. Claudel used her piece, The Waltz, as a memorial for the end of women discrimination in the art world. In comparison, The Kiss by Aguste Rodin and Claudel’s The Waltz both show a naked couple embrace each other in their love and illustrated the raw emotion each person feels for their partner; however, while Rodin’s was meant to be romantic and sensual, Claudel’s created her piece to express her vengeful hatred to the unfairness of gender decimation, not Romeo and Juliet’s puppy

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