Claudel, Camille (1864-1943) , French sculptor, and collaborator with French sculptor Auguste Rodin. She was born in Villeneuve-sur-Fère, France, and in 1881 her family moved to Montparnasse in Paris, where she attended the Colarossi Academy. In 1884 she was apprenticed to Rodin and soon became his assistant and mistress. Her work from this time on intertwined with his, concentrating on portraits and tableaux of naked-figure groups in contorted poses with allegorical subject matter that were executed with lyricism and sensitivity. Claudel's portrait of Rodin is probably her best-known sculpture. She exhibited regularly and had a large state commission in 1895.

Claudel's relationship with Rodin began to break up in 1892, although they maintained contact until 1898. She refused to exhibit work with him after that point and tried to move the style of her sculpture away from that of his. Although she continued to exhibit in reputable art salons and galleries, Claudel became impoverished and increasingly isolated. She felt that Rodin had wronged her, and became convinced that he and his associates were persecuting her.

In 1913 she was committed to the first of several psychiatric hospitals; she remained a psychiatric patient until her death. Her letters to her brother, the writer and diplomat Paul Claudel, are a moving testament to her frustrations, disappointments, and growing despair. Her work remained comparatively obscure until a reawakening of interest during the 1970s and 1980s, when an exhibition of her sculpture toured through many countries and the film Camille Claudel by Bruno Nuytten (1988) told the sad story of her life.