An exhibition featuring the critically acclaimed work of photographer Claude Cahun is opening at Abbot Hall art gallery on 23 March 2024. Claude Cahun: Beneath this Mask delves into the complexities of gender and identity through the artist’s radically ambiguous portraiture.
Claude Cahun (1894–1954) was a French photographer and writer famous for her enigmatic photographic portraits. Born Lucy Schwob, the artist assumed the pseudonym Claude Cahun, a gender-neutral French forename coupled with her grandmother’s surname. With this new identity Cahun was able to reject what she saw as the narrow confines of gender. During a period when women had to attain legal permission to wear trousers, Cahun rebelled: “Masculine? Feminine? It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me”. In her writing Cahun consistently referred to herself as “elle” (she), and interpretation for this exhibition follows her practice.
This exhibition contains 42 striking contemporary giclee prints made from scans of Cahun’s original photographic self-portraits. Largely unknown during her own lifetime, Cahun’s photographs inspired the work of internationally recognised contemporary artists, such as Cindy Sherman, Trish Morrissey and Nan Goldin.
Cahun was educated at the Sorbonne in Paris, where she became involved in the emergence of the surrealist movement. André Breton, a founding member of the movement, called Cahun “one of the most curious spirits of our time”. Cahun operated on the margins of the surrealist movement and never became a member, as she believed this would surrender her identity.
In 1938 Cahun escaped the impending Nazi occupation of France and fled to Jersey with her lover and collaborator Marcel Moore. It was in Jersey that Cahun began the photographic work that she is best known for: a series of theatrical tableaus which see the artist blur and distort her age, identity, gender and surroundings to assume different personas. Abbot Hall will be showcasing these remarkable gender defiant portraits.
Helen Stalker, Associate Curator for Lakeland Arts stated “We are excited to have the radical imagery of Claude Cahun on display at Abbot Hall. We want to provide a platform for the work and voices of the LGBTQIA+ community to be seen and heard. We hope this exhibition will invite people to connect with ideas of place and identity, and particularly how people find inspiration and creativity during times of conflict and displacement.”
For this exhibition Lakeland Arts has partnered with Hayward Gallery Touring. Claude Cahun: Beneath this Mask was created by Hayward Gallery Touring in collaboration with Jersey Heritage and was first presented at the Women of the World Festival in 2015 at the Southbank Centre.
Included with gallery admission.
Tickets are available to prebook online at www.abbothall.org.uk
Gallery admission includes access to all displays and exhibitions on show, including the Collection Galleries and Gilbert Spencer. Gilbert Spencer opens on the same date as Claude Cahun: Beneath this Mask exhibition, 23 March 2024.
