Claude Cahun
| Claude Cahun | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob October 25, 1894 Nantes, France |
| Died | December 8, 1954 (aged 60) Saint Helier, Jersey |
| Resting place |
St Brelade's Church 49°11′03″N 2°12′10″W / 49.1841°N 2.2029°W |
| Nationality | French |
| Known for | Photography, writing, sculpture, collage |
| Movement | Surrealism |
Claude Cahun (25 October 1894 – 8 December 1954) was a French artist, photographer and writer. Her work was both political and personal, and often undermined traditional concepts of gender roles.
Though Cahun's writings suggested she identified as agender, most academic writings use feminine pronouns when discussing her and her work, as there is little documentation that gender neutral pronouns were used or preferred by the artist. In 1929 Cahun translated Havelock Ellis' theories on the third gender.
Born in Nantes as Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob, Cahun was the niece of an avant-garde writer Marcel Schwob and the great-niece of Orientalist David Léon Cahun. When Cahun was four years old, her mother, Mary-Antoinette Courbebaisse, began suffering from mental illness, which ultimately led to her permanent internment at a psychiatric facility. Due to the absence of her mother, Cahun was brought up by her grandmother, Mathilde Cahun.
Cahun attended a private high school in Surrey after experiences with anti-Semitism at her high school in Nantes. She attended the University of Paris, Sorbonne.
She began making photographic self-portraits as early as 1912 (aged 18), and continued taking images of herself through the 1930s.
Around 1919, she changed her name to Claude Cahun, 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 lifelong partner and step-sibling Suzanne Malherbe. For the rest of their lives together, Cahun and Malherbe (who adopted the name "Marcel Moore") collaborated on various written works, sculptures, photomontages and collages. The two published articles and novels, notably in the periodical "Mercure de France", and befriended Henri Michaux, Pierre Morhange and Robert Desnos.
...
Wikipedia