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Claude Cahun

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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 and Daniel 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 critic 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

  1. ^ Lothar Schirmer (2001). Women Seeing Women, A Pictorial History of Women's Photography. NY: Norton. p. 208.
  2. ^ 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 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
  • 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
  • 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

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