OCTOBER 25: Claude Cahun (1894-1954)
The groundbreaking French artist and photographer, Claude Cahun, was born on this day in 1894. Her work is known for its daring disregard for 20th century gender roles, Claude herself even famously saying, “Shuffle the cards. Masculine? Feminine? It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me.”
A self-portrait by Claude Cahun (x).
Claude was born Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob on October 25, 1894 in Nantes, France. She was born to a wealthy Jewish family that boasted the well-known avant-garde artist Marcel Schwob as one of its brood. Tragically, when Claude was just 4-years-old, her mother began to show signs of serious mental illness and was put in a psychiatric facility to live out her days. Claude was then raised by her grandmother. She suffered a great deal of antisemitic bullying during her time at the local schools in Nantes and eventually transferred to a private high school in Surrey. After high school, she enrolled in the University of Paris, Sorbonne.
One of her most well-known pieces is this surrealist self-portrait titled “What Do You Want From Me?” (x).
It was while she was at college when Claude began to practice photography. She began with self-portraits and would continue to work in that mode throughout the 1920s and 1930s. In 1919, she officially changed her name to Claude Cahun. She briefly considered the name Daniel Douglas, inspired by fellow gay historical icon Lord Alfred Douglas, but Claude Cahun won out in the end for its seeming gender neutrality. Although she had been working consistently since 1912, she didn’t find fame until she joined the group of European surrealists in the early 1930s. In 1936, she was featured in both the London International Surrealist Exhibition and The Exposition surréaliste d'Objets.
Claude and her partner Suzanne invent the mirror selfie in 1920 with the piece “Self-Portraits Reflected in a Mirror” (x).
Claude’s life partner was Suzanne Malherbe, who often went by the name Marcel Moore. In 1922, they began holding salon meetings inside their home and became known as a power couple in the artist world. Attendees of their salon were iconic artists such as Henri Michaux, André Breton, Sylvia Beach, and Adrienne Monnier. At the rise of World War II, they both fled Europe and settled on the island of Jersey, right off the coast of Normandy, France. Despite being in America, Claude and Suzanne became active in the Nazi resistance movement and started to publish anti-German pamphlets. In 1944, Claude was arrested for her work in the resistance. Although she was eventually released, her health never recovered from the poor conditions of the jail and she passed away on December 8, 1954. Today, Claude and Suzanne are buried side by side at St Brelade's Church.
