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Claude Cahun's gravestone in the cemetery of St. Brelade's Church,
Jersey
Claude Cahun (25 October 1894 – 8 December
1954) was a French artist, photographer and writer. Her work was both political and
personal, and often played with the concepts of gender and sexuality.
Early
life
Born Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob in Nantes, she was the niece of
writer Marcel
Schwob and the great-niece of Orientalist David Léon
Cahun. Her mother's mental problems meant that she was brought
up by her maternal grandmother, Mathilde Cahun.
She began making photographic self-portraits as early as 1912,
when she was 18 years old, and she continued taking images of
herself through the 1930s.
Around 1919, she settled on the pseudonym Claude Cahun, intentionally
selecting a sexually ambiguous name, after having previously used
the names Claude Courlis (after the curlew) and Daniel Douglas (after Lord Alfred
Douglas). During the early 20s, she settled in Paris with her life-long partner and stepsister
Suzanne
Malherbe. For the rest of their lives together, Cahun and
Malherbe (who adopted the pseudonym "Marcel Moore") collaborated on
various written works, sculptures, photomontages and collages. She
published articles and novels, notably in the periodical "Mercure de
France", and befriended Henri Michaux, Pierre Morhange and Robert Desnos.
Around 1922 she and Malherbe began holding artists' salons at
their home. Among the regulars who would attend were artists Henri Michaux and
André Breton
and literary entrepreneurs Sylvia Beach and Adrienne
Monnier.[1]
Work
Cahun's work encompassed writing, photography, and theater. She
is most remembered for her highly-staged self portraits and
tableaux that incorporated the visual aesthetics of Surrealism.
Her published writings include "Heroines," (1925) a series of
monologues based upon female fairy tale characters and intertwining
them with witty comparisons to the contemporary image of women;
Aveux non avenus, (Carrefour, 1930) a book of essays and
recorded dreams illustrated with photomontages; and several essays in
magazines and journals.[2]
In 1932 she joined the Association
des Ecrivains et Artistes Révolutionnaires, where she met André Breton and
René Crevel.
Following this, she started associating with the surrealist group, and later participated in
a number of surrealist exhibitions, including the London
International Surrealist Exhibition (New Burlington Gallery)
and Exposition surréaliste d'Objets (Charles Ratton Gallery,
Paris), both in 1936. In 1934, she published a short polemic essay,
Les Paris sont Ouverts, and in 1935 took part in the
founding of the left-wing group Contre Attaque, alongside
André Breton
and Georges
Bataille.
World War
II activism
In 1937 Cahun and Malherbe settled in Jersey. Following the fall of France and the
German occupation of Jersey and the other Channel
Islands, they became active as resistance workers and
propagandists. Fervently against war, the two worked extensively in
producing anti-German fliers. Many were snippets from
English-to-German translations of BBC reports on the Nazi's crimes
and insolence, which were pasted together to create rhythmic poems
and harsh criticism. The couple then dressed up and attended many
German military events in Jersey, strategically placing them in
soldier's pockets, on their chairs, etc. Also, fliers were
inconspicuously crumpled up and thrown into cars and windows. In
many ways, Cahun and Malherbe's resistance efforts were not only
political but artistic actions, using their creative talents to
manipulate and undermine the authority which they despised. In many
ways, Cahun's life's work was focused on undermining a certain
authority, however her specific resistance fighting targeted a
physically dangerous threat. In 1944 they were arrested and
sentenced to death, but the sentences were never carried out.
However, Cahun's health never recovered from her treatment in jail,
and she died in 1954. She is buried in St
Brelade's Church with her partner Suzanne Malherbe (who was also known
by the pseudonym Marcel Moore).
Social critique and
legacy
In many ways, Cahun's life was marked by a sense of role
reversal, and her public identity became a commentary upon not only
her own, but the public's notions of sexuality, gender, beauty, and
logic. Her adoption of a sexually ambiguous name, and her
androgynous self-portraits display a revolutionary way of thinking
and creating, experimenting with her audience's understanding of
photography as a documentation of reality. Her poetry challenged
gender roles and attacked the increasingly modern world's social
and economic boundaries. Also Cahun's participation in the Parisian
Surrealist movement diversified the group's artwork and ushered in
new representations. Where most Surrealist artists were men, and
their primary images were of women as isolated symbols of
eroticism, Cahun epitomized the chameleonic and multiple
possibilities of the female identity. Her photographs, writings,
and general life as an artistic and political revolutionary
continue to influence countless artists, namely Cindy Sherman and
Nan Goldin.
Cahun's collected writings were published in 2002 as Claude
Cahun - Écrits (ISBN 2-85893-616-1), edited by François
Leperlier.
References
- ^
Lothar Schirmer (2001). Women
Seeing Women, A Pictorial History of Women's Photography. NY:
Norton. p. 208.
- ^
Penelope Rosemont, Surrealist Women 1998, University of
Texas Press
Bibliography (French
language)
- Vues et Visions (Pseudonym Claude Courlis), Mercure de
France, No. 406, 16 May 1914
- La 'Salomé' d'Oscar Wilde. Le procés Billing et les 47000
pervertis du Livre noir, Mercure de France, No. 481, 1 July
1918
- Le poteau frontière (Pseudonym Daniel Douglas), La
Gerbe, No. 3, December 1918
- Au plus beau des anges (Pseudonym Daniel Douglas), La
Gerbe, No. 3, December 1918
- Cigarettes (Pseudonym Daniel Douglas), La Gerbe, No.
3, December 1918
- Aux Amis des livres, La Gerbe, No. 5, February 1919
- La Sorbonne en robe de fête (Pseudonym Daniel
Douglas), La Gerbe, No. 5, February 1919
- La possession du Monde, par Georges Duhamel, La Gerbe,
No. 7, April 1919
- Les Gerbes (Pseudonym Daniel Douglas), La Gerbe, No.
7, April 1919
- L'amour aveugle (Pseudonym Daniel Douglas), La Gerbe,
No. 12, September 1919
- La machine magique (Pseudonym Daniel Douglas), La
Gerbe, No. 12, September 1919
- Mathilde Alanic. Les roses refleurissent, Le Phare de
la Loire, 29 June 1919
- Le théâtre de mademoiselle, par Mathias Morhardt, Le
Phare de la Loire, 20 July 1919
- Vues et Visions, with Illustrations by Marcel Moore,
Paris: Georges Crès & Cie, 1919
- Paraboles (Pseudonym Daniel Douglas), La Gerbe, No.
17, February 1920
- Une conférence de Georges Duhamel (Pseudonym Daniel
Douglas), La Gerbe, No. 19, April 1920
- Marcel Schwob, La Gerbe, No. 20, May 1920
- Boxe (Pseudonym Daniel Douglas), La Gerbe, No. 22,
July 1920
- Old Scotch Whisky, La Gerbe, No. 27, December 1920
- A propos d'une conference and Méditations à la
faveur d'un Jazz Band, La Gerbe, No. 27, December 1920
- Héroïnes: 'Eve la trop crédule', 'Dalila, femme entre les
femmes', 'La Sadique Judith', 'Hélène la rebelle', 'Sapho
l'incomprise', 'Marguerite, sœur incestueuse', 'Salomé la
sceptique', Mercure de France, No. 639, 1 February 1925
- Héroïnes: 'Sophie la symboliste', 'la Belle', Le
Journal littéraire, No. 45, 28 February 1925
- Méditation de Mademoiselle Lucie Schwob, Philosophies,
No. 5/6, March 1925
- Récits de rêve, in the special edition Les rêves, Le
Disque vert, Third year, Book 4, No. 2, 1925
- Carnaval en chambre, La Ligne de cœur, Book 4, March
1926
- Ephémérides, Mercure de France, No. 685, 1 January
1927
- Au Diable, Le Plateau, No. 2, May-June 1929
- Ellis, Havelock: La Femme dans la société - I. L'Hygiene
sociale, translated by Lucy Schwob, Mercure de France,
1929
- Aveux non avenus, illustrated by Marcel Moore, Paris:
Editions du Carrefour, 30 May 1930
- Review on Bibliothèque
Nationale Gallica
- Frontière Humaine, self-portrait, Bifur, No. 5, April
1930
- Protestez (AEAR),
Feuille rouge, No. 2, March 1933
- Contre le fascisme Mays aussi contre l'impérialisme
francais (AEAR), Feuille rouge, No. 4, May 1933
- Les Paris sont ouvert, Paris: José Corti, May
1934
- Union de lutte des intellectuels révolutionnaires,
Contre-Attaque, 7 October 1935
- Prenez garde aux objets domestique, Cahier d'Art I-II,
1936
- Sous le feu des canons francais ... et alliés,
Contre-Attaque, March 1936
- Dissolution de Contre-Attaque, L'Œuvre, 24 March
1936
- Exposition surréaliste d'objets, Exhibition at the
Charles Ratton Gallery, Paris, 22-29 May 1936. Items listed by
Claude Cahun are Un air de famille and Souris
valseuses
- Il n'y a pas de liberté pour les ennemis de la
liberté, 20 July 1936
- Deharme, Lise: Le Cœur de Pic, 32 illustrated with 20
photos by Claude Cahun, Paris: José Cortis, 1937
- Adhésion à la Fédération Internationale de l'Art
Révolutionnaire Indépendant, Clé, No. 1, January 1939
- À bas les lettres de cachets! À bas la terreur grise!
(FIARI), June 1939
Bibliography (English
language)
- Weaver, M. and Hammond, A. "Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore:
Surrealist Sisters." History of Photography, Summer 1993, 17 (2),
217.
- Laurie J. Monahan, "Radical Transformations: Claude Cahun and
the Masquerade of Womanliness". In: Catherine de Zegher (ed.),
Inside the Visible, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
& MIT Press, 1996.
- Claude Cahun, Tacinta Dean and Virginia Nimarkoh:
Mise-En-Scene: Institute for Contemporary Arts: London:
1996: ISBN 0-905263-59-6
- Shelley Rice:Inverted Odysseys: Claude Cahun, Maya Deren
and Cindy Sherman: Cambridge: Massachuesetts: MIT Press: 1999:
ISBN 0-262-68106-4
- 'Playing a Part: The Story of Claude Cahun,' drama documentary
film by Lizzie Thynne, Brighton: Sussex University, 2004. Available
from l.thynne@sussex.ac.uk.
- Louise Downie: Don't Kiss Me: The Art of Claude Cahun and
Marcel Moore: London: Aperture: 2006: ISBN 1-85437-679-9
- Julie Cole: "Claude Cahun, Marcel Moore and the Collaborative
Construction of a Lesbian Subjectivity." In: Norma Broude and Mary
D. Garrard (eds.), Reclaiming Female Agency: Feminist Art History
after Postmodernism, Berkeley, University of California Press,
2005.
Film
Theater
Exhibitions
- International Surrealist Exhibition, London
- June-July 1936
- Surrealist Sisters Jersey Museum 1993
- Mise en Scene - Institute of Contemporary
Art (ICA), London - 13 October to 27 November 1994
- Claude Cahun : photographe : Claude Cahun 1894-1954 -
Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris - 23 June to 17 September 1995
- Neue Museum, Graz, Austria - 4 October to 3 December 1997
- Fotografische Sammlung, Museum Folkwang Essen, Germany - 18
January - 8 March 1998
- Don't Kiss Me - Disruptions of the Self in the Work of Claude
Cahun - Presentation House Gallery, North Vancouver, Canada - 7
November to 20 December 1998
- Don't Kiss Me - Disruptions of the Self in the Work of Claude
Cahun - Art Gallery of Ontario, Ontario, Canada - 8 May to 18 July
1999
- Inverted Odysseys - Grey Art Gallery, New York, USA - 16
November 1999 to 29 January 2000
- Surrealism: Desire Unbound - Tate Modern, London - 20 September 2001 to
1 January 2002
- Claude Cahun - Retrospective - IVAM, Valencia, Spain - 8
November 2001 to 20 January 2002
- I am in training - don't kiss me - New York, USA - May
2004
- Acting Out: Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore - The Judah
L. Magnes Museum - 4 April - July 2005
- Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME, USA - September to
October 2005
- Jersey Museum - November 2005 to January 2006
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