Jessie Lipscomb (1861-1952)

SCULPTRESS Jennie Lipscomb was born in Grantham, the daughter of a colliery agent and a barmaid.

The family moved to Peterborough when she was 14, then she attended the Royal College of Art which was at that time called the National Art Training School in South Kensington.

She won the Queen’s Prize in 1882 and the National Silver Medal in 1883, after which she visited Paris with a view to continuing her education.

Two previous graduates of the National Art Training School – Amy Singer and Emily Fawcett – were already living in Paris, and sharing a studio with the young Camille Claudel.

In January 1884 Camille’s mother wrote to Jessie confirming the arrangement that Jessie would lodge with the Claudel family for 200 francs a month.

In 1886 Jessie and Camille travelled together to England where they visited Jessie’s family in Peterborough.

At this time Jessie was exhibiting a terra-cotta bust Day Dreams (1886) in the Royal Academy, and in Nottingham.

The following year she exhibited another terra-cotta piece entitled Sans Souci, and a plaster portrait of Camille Claudel. She also exhibited a bust of the Italian model Giganti in both the Royal Academy and Nottingham. On Boxing Day she married William Elborne and they settled in Manchester.

Lipscomb’s relationship to Claudel soured and Claudel claimed never to want to see Lipscomb again.

However, Lipscomb was one of the few people to visit Claudel many years later when the latter was confined in the Montdevergues Asylum.