Age of maturity – Term Paper

Sculpture of Camille Claudel

At a tender age of nineteen years, Camille Claudel came up with a very interesting sculpture of Age Mur which is French for “The Mature Age”. A wise saying goes, Art is not what you see but rather what you make others see. The primary goal of art is to communicate to the world without necessarily using words. Art is one area that has experienced significant advances over the years both positive and negative alike. In the past, art was more appreciated as compared to the present day. People took their time to come with great pieces that persisted through time and are still valued in the modern day. Take a look at the ancient art, drawings, hieroglyphics, sculptures, ornaments, songs, curving and even body decoration. They were and still are to be admired. People in the ancient days had a keen eye for detail and were willing to go to great lengths to achieve the effect of art they wanted to. Artists would work day and night to come up with inspiring art. When it came to art, they outdid themselves. One of the famous sculptures back in the day was Age Mur (Levis). It is a three-dimensional sculpture that was created in the early twentieth century, long before the art of 3D was developed. Safe to say, the artist was way ahead of his time and coming up with such a masterpiece was perhaps the epitome of his career. This paper seeks to explain the viewer’s perspective on the space between the older lover and the young female.

Concept of love

There is an intense mood of fear, use of force and intimidation that is invoked by just looking at the picture. You can tell that the young female is against the idea of being with the older lover and the space between the two confirms. She does not share the love that the older male is forcing on her, and she does not fancy the idea of even being close to him. Talking of love, it is a concept that has never been quite fully understood by the human brain. It makes one do things they would not otherwise do, and they have fun while at it. Whereas no one has ever fully defined or explained love, everyone pretty much has an idea what it is about. It is for this reason that people prefer expressing it that mere use of words. Some will say love is wanting the best for your partner, whereas some will believe it is sacrificing for your partner to make him/her happy at all costs. Others say love is being there for someone physically, emotionally and financially. However, the space in the sculpture does not depict this at all. On the contrary, space goes against all those definitions of love (Lara).

The effect that space has on the younger female is that she feels constrained and uncomfortable in the relationship. By being with an older lover, the younger female feels that she is denied her chance to experience true love with a boy of her age. The space depicts missing love and separation in the relationship. The fact that the lady is being dragged is clear indication that it is not her choice to be with the older man. She is not willing to reciprocate the love as it is not there in the first place. The space also indicates lack of cooperation between the two lovers and for that reason the relationship is not bound to last long. (Lara).

Works Cited

Dumais, LULJvis. “L’UDJgeMULr”. Urgences, no. 13, 1986, p. 41. Consortium Erudit, doi:10.7202/025218ar.

McKenzie, Lara. “Love From Afar: Transcending Distance And Difference In Age-Dissimilar Couplings?”.Sites: A Journal of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies, vol 13, no. 1, 2016, p. 198. University Of Otago Library, doi:10.11157/sites-vol13iss1id307.