Auguste Rodin and Camille Claudel by J.A. Schmoll gen. Eisenwerth. Prestel Pegasus Library, Munich/New York, 1994. English edition. Hardcover, 128 pages with 83 duotone illustrations. From the private library of Conrad de Long, a farmer and eclectic collector in Chester County, PA.

Rodin and Camille Claudel had one of art history’s most legendary and tragic relationships. When they met in 1883 he was 44 and she was 20, already a gifted sculptor. She became his student, collaborator, and lover, and their mutual influence on each other’s work was profound. The relationship ended badly; Claudel spent the last 30 years of her life committed to a psychiatric asylum, and debate has never fully settled whether Rodin’s treatment of her contributed to her breakdown.
Schmoll’s book examines all of it: the creative partnership, the romantic triangle with Rodin’s longtime companion Rose Beuret, Claudel’s own substantial body of work, and the role her brother the poet Paul Claudel played in her institutionalization. It’s a serious scholarly reassessment that pushes back against the simpler “woman destroyed by powerful man” narrative while still taking Claudel’s genius seriously on its own terms.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Condition: VG. Dust jacket shows wrinkling at head and tail, scuffing and light scratching to rear panel, and a price sticker remnant. Boards clean and tight beneath. Text block bright, binding sound.