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Claude Cahun

The Knitting Circle: Photography

Biography,work,bibliography.

French Jewish writer and photographer

Born Lucy Schwob. Her family were prominant Jewish intellectuals. Her father, Maurice Schwob, was the publisher of the newspaperLe Phare de la Loire. Her uncle, Maurice Schwob, was a founder of the reviewMercure de France, he was an important figure in the Symbolist movement, and he was a friend ofOscar Wilde.

She was brought up on the Isle of Jersey.

She studied at Oxford University from 1907-8.

She moved to Paris with her lover, Suzanne Malherbe who was herself a noteable designer and artist under the pseudonym Marcel Moore.

In 1914 Claude Cahun studied at the Sorbonne.

Also in 1914 she produced her first photographic self-portraits under the pseudonym of Claude Courlis.

She wrote for a number of publications includingMercure de Francefor which she reported on thetrialsofOscar Wilde. She also wrote forL'Amité, a homosexual review magazine.

"e;My opinion about homosexuality and homosexuals is exactly the same as my opinion about heterosexuality and heterosexuals. All depends on individuals and circumstances. I claim a general freedom of behaviour."e;

Claude Cahun,L'Amité, 1925

In 1929Mercure de Francepublished her translation into French ofHavelock Ellis'sStudy of Social Psychology.

In 1932 Claude Cahun joined the group of communist artists and writers, the "e;Association des Ecrivains et Artistes Révolutionnaires"e;, in which she meets André Breton and other Surrealists. However the group expels André Breton and the Surrealists in 1933 for their non-orthodox views. Claude Cahun also quits.

Claude Cahun and Suzanne Malherbe returned to La Rocquaise in Jersey in 1937. In 1940 the German army invaded Jersey. Claude Cahun and Suzanne Malherbe became active in the Resistance, but in 1944 they were arrested by the Nazis and sentenced to death for inciting Nazi troops to mutiny. They were imprisoned until February 1945 but spared death by the liberation of the island. Claude Cahun died from complications that developed while she was in prison.

Further details about Claude Cahun can be found at the Jersey Museum.

• Vues et Visions, 1914, a selection of poetry published inMercure de France
  The selection is re-published in 1919 by Georges Crès with illustrations by Suzanne Malherbe.

• Héroines, 1925, a collection of short stories published byMercure de FranceandLe Journal Litteraire

• Aveux non avenus, 1930, autobiographical work including a photo-montage with Suzanne Malherbe and a preface by popular writer Pierre Mac Orlan.

• Photographic self-portrait, 1930, published byBifur

• Les Paris sont ouverts, 1934, polemical tract defending creative expression against the cultural policy of the Communist International.

• Un Air de Famille, 1936, exhibited at the "e;Exhibition of Surrealist Objects"e; at the Charles Ratton Gallery in Paris

• "e;tableaux of photographiques"e;, 1937, inLe Coeur de Pic, an anthology of poems by Lise Deharmes, introduced by Paul Eluard

• Claude Cahun, Tacita Dean, and virg Nimarkoh, (1996), "e;Mise En Scene"e;, ICA London, 64 pages, ISBN 0905263596 (hardcover)

• Francois Leperlier and Liz Heron, (1997), "e;Claud Cahun"e;, Blackwell Verso, 256 pages, ISBN 0860916340 (paperback)

• Francois Leperlier, (1997), "e;Claud Cahun: Masks and Metamorphoses"e;, Blackwell Verso, ISBN 0860914844 (hardcover)

• Francois Leperlier and Liz Heron, (1998), "e;Claude Cahun: Masks and Metamorphoses"e;, Verso, 256 pages, ISBN 1859848281 (hardcover)

• Francois Leperlier and Liz Heron, (1998), "e;Claude Cahun: Masks and Metamorphoses"e;, Verso, 256 pages, ISBN 1859841996 (paperback)

• Dirk Snauwaert and Heike Ander, (1997), "e;Claude Cahun - Bilder"e;, Schirmer/Mosel Verlag GmbH, 130 pages, ISBN 3888148855 (paperback)

Biography,work,bibliography.

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The Knitting Circle

First uploaded 31st. December, 1998.

Last altered 11th. January, 1999