Review by Choice Review
For nearly 20 years, art historians have been venturing into other disciplines to inform their work, areas such as semiotics, psychoanalysis, and literary theory. The opposite direction has been less frequently explored, but Caranfa considers the sculptor Claudel (1864-1943) a prime candidate. Although Caranfa errs in his insistence that little has been written in English on the artist and no discussions exist that attempt to extricate and separate her work from that of her primary teacher, employer, and lover, Auguste Rodin, he does provide an intriguing argument: namely, that her art can be best understood in light of the writings and observations of her famous poet brother, Paul Claudel. Having written on Paul Claudel and Marcel Proust, Caranfa here explores the act of literary creation, the interior silence from which artists draw for inspiration, to shed light on Camille's creative process. Enthusiastically championing Camille's work, and making every effort to remove Rodin's influence from her aesthetic and sculpture, Caranfa assiduously provides a stimulating yet one-sided study in which there is too much emphasis on epistemology and ontology at the expense of the works of art themselves. Nevertheless, a valuable book for specialists in modern art and aesthetics, and recommended for comprehensive collections. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. J. Weidman; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
