Claude Cahun- Biography

Claude Cahun was a French surrealist photographer, sculptor, and writer who challenged gender stereotypes and sexuality questions. Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob was born Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob and adopted the name Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob in 1914. She was best known for her self-portraits and writing.

Some of Claude Cahun’s work has been shown in both political and personal contexts. In her autobiography, which is titled “”Disavowals? Masculine?” she wrote. Feminine? It all depends on the situation. “Neutral is the only gender that works for me.” During WWII, she was both a propagandist and a resistance worker.

Claude Cahun- Birth, Parents, Siblings & Education

Claude Cahun was born in Nantes in 1894 to a Jewish family. Her ancestors were associated with the great art of book writing.

His uncle was Marcel Schwob, a French symbolist writer best known for his short stories of the time, and his great-uncle was David Leon Cahun, a famous French traveler and writer of the time.

Claude Cahun- Net Worth & Salary

She was one of those people who never got into the weeds of what it meant to be a lady. She acted as both a man and a woman, and she continued to challenge sexual and gender stereotypes.

In a 20th-century society where people had no words for changing their gender types, discussing sexuality, and when men were considered to be men and women were considered to be women, Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob called herself Claude Cahun.

She chose a name that could be used by both men and women. Decades after her death, her work was recognized by historians, artists, bisexuals, gays, transgender, and queer people.

Claude Cahun- Professional Career

Cahun worked as a stage manager, photographer, and writer. Her surrealist work, which included visual aesthetics and self-portraits, is her most well-known work.

Cahun painted a staggering number of self-portraits as dolls, vampires, angels, dandys, aviators, and Japanese puppets during the 1920s.

Her artistry loos included having her head shaved, removing the body from the frame and revealing only the head and shoulders, blurring gender indicators, and many other things.

She displayed a variety of artistry work based on gender presentation in front of the audience. Cahun published numerous write-ups in magazines and journals, including “Heroines” (1925), Carrefour, 1930, and numerous other essays, in addition to self-portraits.

In 1932, she became a member of the Association des Écrivains et Artistes Révolutionnaires, and she went on to participate in many surrealist exhibitions, including the London International Surrealist Exhibition.

Claude Cahun- Relationship Status

Around 1914, she changed her name to Claude Cahun and began referring to herself as such. In the early 1920s, she moved to Paris with a lifelong partner and step-sibling named Suzanne Malherbe, later known as Marcel Moore.

Cahun’s biological divorced father and Moore’s biological widowed mother became step-siblings when they married.

This occurred following Cahun and Moore’s romantic and artistic relationship. For the rest of their lives, Cahun and Moore worked on collaborative projects such as written works, sculptures, collages, and photomontages.

They became friends with Robert Desnos, Henri Michaux, and Pierre Morhange after many of their articles and novels were published.

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Quick Facts of Claude Cahun

• Around 1922, Cahun and Moorie co-hosted an artists’ salon at their home, with attendees including artists like Henri Michaux and André Breton, as well as literary entrepreneurs like Sylvia Beach and Adrienne Monnier.
• Many writers and scholars, including Miranda Welby-Everard, have cited her work, emphasizing the significance of theatre, costumes, and performances carried primarily by Cahun and varying from gender types.
• In 1912, at the age of eighteen, she began making photographic portraits.
• Throughout the 1930s, she continued to photograph herself.
• Cahun’s mother, Mary-Antoinette Courbebaisse, became mentally ill when she was four years old.
• Because of her mother’s illness, she was committed to a psychiatrist for the rest of her life. Cahun was brought by her grandmother, Mathilde, while she was away.