Camille Claudot: The Age of Maturity
When I came across this sculpture at Musee Rodin I was captivated by the story. Kneeling at one end of the sculpture is a young woman who is reaching out or perhaps having just let go of a man who is being coaxed by a much older woman to follow her and move away from the pleading girl. The sculpture titled, “The Age of Mortality” drew me in more than any other sculpture in the museum in part because of the strong lines or movement angling up from the foot of the young girl all the way up to what I saw (perhaps mistakenly so) as some sort of wing from the woman pulling the protagonist away from his daughter, lover, who??
When I read the explanation card next to the sculpture I learned more. In fact, the story “presents us with three naked figures, a young woman on her knees whose outstretched hands appear to have just released from their grip the hand of an older man, who is held in the arms of another, older woman, who appears to be compelling the man forward and away from the young woman. The title points to an allegory of aging, in which the man, the protagonist of the piece, is leaving his youth and moving towards old age and death.”
And there it is once again: this theme of impending death is one that seems to creep into my daily consciousness. Not so unexpected given my dad passing away, my retirement and well, struggling more and more with basic physical actions like knee pain when I walk down stairs. Ironically, the last time I was at Musee Rodin I was captivated by a different sculpture: “The Kiss”
There I was a 20 year old college student on his semester abroad walking through the museum for the first time and just being blown away by the passion of this embrace. The way in which the woman curled her arm around her lover’s neck, pulling him in and he, relaxed in his devotion toward the moment, his hand gently resting on her hip, his absolute commitment to the moment and all the love and promise that it revealed. All of this tenderness, all of this sensuality captured by Rodin in marble.
So now, 33 years later, it is what I see and what I am moved by that reveals just where I am in my life and what I am thinking about. It’s natural and nothing to be ashamed of or to walk away from or deny. After all, now I am 58 years old and at a transitional moment in my life. The facts of this transition seep into how I see and appreciate the world around me from small actions like bending down to tie my shoes to walking through a museum and being moved by different works of art.
There is a second part of the story behind “The Age of Mortality” that does reveal much about Rodin and his approach to his own mortality. When he saw the first version of Claudot’s sculpture, in a fit of rage he destroyed it. Why exactly he did this is unknown, but given Rodin’s ego and my own reflections about mortality these days I will suggest my own narrative on why he did such a violent act of destruction on his lover’s sculpture. Unfortunately, Rodin could not cope or even face his own mortality.
Right…not too complicated of an explanation. However, this is where I feel my own journey and mindset takes a path or a turn away from our renown artist. I am living right now a life in Paris that feels like a gift. Check that, it does not feel like a gift, it is a gift. Each day provides new adventures, new places to see or old haunches like this cafe where I sit writing, really, whatever I want to write about. So many people, especially old men like Rodin, grow gruff and bitter as they age. Women are much more graceful at aging. Their ego is checked and their lives blossom. At least it seems that way to me as I know far more grumpy old men than women. But not me, no, Rodin, I will not turn toward anger as these last 20-30 years unfold. Instead, I will cherish the life in front of me as a new adventure to appreciate and embrace. Onward!
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