Claude Cahun By Shernika Boothe Claude Cahun was

Claude Cahun By Shernika Boothe

Claude Cahun was a writer, photographer and artist was born on October 25 th 1894 in Nantes, France. Her work often engaged in concepts of sexuality and gender. She began making photographic selfportraits when she was 18 years old and she continued taking images of herself through the 1930 s. Her birth name was Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob but around 1919 she changed her name to Claude Cahun.

Cahun is remembered for her portraits of herself disguised in many roles such as….

Staring powerfully at the camera with a bald head. Laying in plants

Or dressed like Budda Or a scary doll

Her self-photographs were exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London in 1994. Claude participated in many exhibitions of surrealism, including Exposition surréaliste d’Objets in Paris, and London International Surrealist Exhibition. Both her written and photographic works have been influential for many artists, especially Del La Grace Volcano, Nan Goldin, and Cindy Sherman.

Cahun and her lover Malherbe were arrested in 1940 and condemned to death by the Gestapo and had to spend the duration of the war in prison. The end of the war led to their release in 1945, but Claude Cahun's health had deteriorated. Cahun died in Jersey in 1954. Malherbe died in 1972 and was buried with Cahun.

Overall through her photographic work, Cahun expressed diverse emotions through her body language, gesture, posture, eyes, dressing, and the background of her images. She was really great artist.