prison until liberated by the Allies in 1945; unfor-
tunately, most of Cahun’s works were destroyed
during the war.
ESTHERRuelfsSeealso:Feminist Photography; Henri, Florence;
History of Photography: Interwar Years; Manipula-
tion; Montage; Photography in France; Representa-
tion and Gender; Sherman, Cindy; Surrealism
Biography
Born Lucy Rene ́e Mathilde Schwob in Nantes, France,
October 25, 1894; Schooled in Nantes. Father remar-
ried, 1906, bringing stepsister Suzanne Malherbe into
the household. Studied in Oxford, 1907–08; created
her first photographic self-portraits in 1912; began
study of philology and philosophy at the Sorbonne,
1914; published ‘‘He ́roı ̈nes,’’ translation of Havelock
Ellis’sStudy of Social Psychology, 1925; worked as an
actress in Pierre Albert-Birot’s experimental theater,
Le Plateau, 1929; met Andre ́ Breton, 1932, joined
L’Association des E ́crivains et Artistes Re ́volution-
naires, which she left in 1933 after a disagreement
between the organization and the surrealists. Joined
the antifascist political coalition Contre-Attaque,
1934; participated inExposition surre ́aliste d’objetsin
Paris and London, 1936; moved with Malherbe to the
Isle of Jersey, England, 1937. Died in Saint-He ́lier,
Jersey, on December 8, 1954.
Individual Exhibitions
1980 Claude Cahun; Galerie Claude Givaudan; Geneva
1992 Claude Cahun; Zabriskie Gallery; New York
Claude Cahun, 1894–1954: Photographies des anne ́es
20 et 30; Galerie Zabriskie; Paris
1993 Claude Cahun and Suzanne Malherbe; The Jersey
Museum; Saint-He ́lier, Jersey
1995 Claude Cahun, 1894–1954; Muse ́e d’Art Moderne de la
Ville de Paris Galerie Berggruen; Paris
1997 Claude Cahun—Selbstdarstellungen; Kunstverein
Mu ̈nchen, and traveling
Group Exhibitions
1985 L’Amour fou: Photography and Surrealism; Corcoran
Gallery of Art; Washington, D.C.
Explosante fixe: Photographie et surre ́alisme; Muse ́e
National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou;
Paris
1991 Paris des anne ́es trente: Le Surre ́alisme et le livre;
Galerie Zabriskie; Paris, and traveling
1992 Photographie et sculpture; Centre National de la
Photographie; Paris
1994 Mise en sce`ne: Claude Cahun, Tacita Dean, Virginia
Nimarkoh; Institute of Contemporary Arts; London
Le Reˆved’une ville: Nantes et le surre ́alisme; Muse ́e
des Beaux-Arts; Nantes
Feminin—Masculin; Muse ́e National d’Art Moderne,
Centre Georges Pompidou; Paris
1996 Inside the Visible; Institute of Contemporary Art;
Boston, Massachusetts
Rrose Is a Rrose Is a Rrose: Gender Performance in
Photography; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; New
York, New York
1997 Double Vie—Double Vue; Fondation Cartier; Paris
Claude Cahun; Ginza Artspace, Fondation Shiseido;
Tokyo
Floating Images of Women in Art History: From the
Birth of the Feminism Toward the Dissolution of the
Gender; Tochigi Prefectural Museum
El rostro velado; Sala de Exposiciones Koldo Mit-
xelena; San Sebastia ́n
1998 Mirror Images: Women, Surrealism, and Self-Repre-
sentation; MIT, List Visual Arts Center; Cambridge,
Massachusetts and travelingSelected Works
Self-Portrait, c. 1928
Self-Portrait, c. 1929
Frontie`re humaine (Human frontier), fromBifur, no. 5, 1930
Self-Portrait, from Bifur, no. 5, 1930
Humanite ́Figure (Poupe ́e), 1936Further Reading
Ander, Heike, and Dirk Snauwaert, eds.Claude Cahun:
Bilder. Munich: Schirmer/Mosel, 1997.
Blessing, Jennifer, ed.Rrose Is a Rrose Is a Rrose: Gender
Performance in Photography. New York: Guggenheim
Museum Publications, 1997.
Chadwick, Whitney, ed.Mirror Images: Women, Surreal-
ism, and Self-Representation. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT
Press, 1998.
Claude Cahun: Photographe: Muse ́e d’Art Moderne de la
Ville de Paris. Paris: Jean-Michel Place, 1995.
De Zegher, M. Catherine, ed.Inside the Visible: An elliptical
traverse of 20thcentury art in, of, and from the feminine.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1996.
Leperlier, Franc ̧ ois,Claude Cahun. L’E ́cart et la metamor-
phose. Paris: Jean-Michel Place, 1992.
Dean, Tacita, and Virginia Nimarkoh. Mise en sce`ne:
Claude Cahun. London: Institute of Contemporary
Arts, 1994.
Monahan, Laurie J. ‘‘Claude Cahuns radikale Transforma-
tionen.’’Texte zur Kunst3, no. 11 (Sept. 1993): 101–109.
Sykora, Katharina.Unheimliche Paarungen. Androidenfas-
zination und Geschlecht in der Fotografie. Cologne: Ver-
lag der Buchhandlung Walter Ko ̈nig, 1999.CAHUN, CLAUDE