GENDER, GENIUS, AND THE ARTIST'S DOUBLE BIND: THE LETTERS OF CAMILLE CLAUDEL, 1880-1910

This article interprets various letters by the French sculptor Camille Claudel, in the light of fin-de-siecle French discourses on the 'femme artiste' and 'art feminin'. Drawing on the psychopathological concept of the 'double bind' and theoretical discussions of the gendering of genius, the article argues that the artistic and epistolary persona constructed in these letters throws light on the psychological conflicts typically experienced by talented women faced with paradoxical injunctions. It concludes that Claudel's personal negotiation of these constraints contained elements of success and failure that cause us to rethink the typical formulaic, pathologizing explanations of her life story.