Camille CLAUDEL (1856-1943). L.A.S. "Mlle C. Claudel", Montd - Lot 5

Lot n° 5
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10000 - 15000 EUR
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Résultat : 21 100EUR
Camille CLAUDEL (1856-1943). L.A.S. "Mlle C. Claudel", Montd - Lot 5
Camille CLAUDEL (1856-1943). L.A.S. "Mlle C. Claudel", Montdevergues December 22 [1915], to Mme de Vulpillières in Nice; 6pages in-8, stamped envelope. Very rare and pathetic letter about her internment and suffering. [Interned at Ville-Évrard on March 10, 1913, Camille Claudel was transferred on February 12, 1915 to the Montdevergues insane asylum in Montfavet (Vaucluse), where she remained for 28 years, until her death. The letter is addressed to her friend, Countess Marguerite de Reydet de Vulpillières née Duport de Rivoire (1861-1940), who, with her husband Gabriel, had two sons, François and Raoul, and a daughter, Simone. The eldest son François, born in Avignon in 1896, was killed on June 15, 1915. The Vulpillières lived in Paris at 5 rue de l'Échelle, where they must have entertained Camille Claudel for dinner, as she indicates at the end of the letter. The letter is written in black ink on a bifeuillet and a single sheet of lined paper; Camille Claudel made the envelope herself by folding a sheet of the same paper]. Camille Claudel thanks her correspondent for forgetting for a moment her "maternal despair" to think of her. She remembers "little François, such an intelligent and reasonable child, who received your visits like a grown-up". She would never have "believed that he was already old enough to be a soldier, and above all that he was already called upon to die such a glorious but cruel death!" However, she tries to reassure her correspondent: perhaps he has "fallen into some trap" and is "a prisoner in Germany". She suggests that "a painter friend of mine who lives in Berlin (Baroness Laetitia von Witzleben) has many acquaintances at the German court and is generally very well informed". [Laetitia von Witzleben (1849-1923), a painter and sculptor, had been, like Camille, a pupil of Alfred Boucher at the Académie Colarossi and then of Rodin, and had shared a studio at 117 rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs with her friend Camille Claudel and other friends]. "You make me hope that you'll come and see me, it would be a great joy for me too". She recommends seeing the chaplain first, and "asking his advice on how to get to me"... She warns her friend: "I think you'll have a hard time recognizing me, all the suffering I went through in those horrible institutions is written in big letters on my face. I think that if I am left there any longer, I will only leave for the Montfavet cemetery". She hurried to write to her friend, because "the poor young girl who ventures to carry my letters to the post office will soon be leaving here, and then I'll find myself locked up again, with no communication with the outside world. It would also be possible that overnight I would be grabbed again and transported to an even more distant institution from which I could never leave". She recommends "the utmost caution [...] If you would like to help me in this sad circumstance, and if it would be agreeable to you, I would be delighted to make a bust of your two children or yourself!" Fortunately, the second son is too young to "go and join in this horrible butchery!" And that leaves little Simone to console the mother for the loss of her eldest son. In conclusion, she adds: "When you see the high walls surrounding your unfortunate friend, you won't be able to help shedding a few tears over the fate of the one who so often sat at your table and ate your excellent dinners"...
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