Claude Cahun

1894–1954

Claude Cahun, ‘I Extend My Arms’ 1931 or 1932
I Extend My Arms 1931 or 1932
© The estate of Claude Cahun
License this image

In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Rooms

5 artworks by Claude Cahun
View by Appointment

Biography

Claude Cahun (25 October 1894 – 8 December 1954), born Lucie Renee Mathilde Schwob, was a French photographer, sculptor and writer.

Lucie Renee Mathilde Schwob adopted the gender-ambiguous name Claude Cahun in 1917 and is best known for self-portraits, in which they assumed a variety of personae.

Cahun's work was both political and personal, and often undermined traditional concepts of static gender roles. In their autobiography, Disavowals, they explained, “Masculine? Feminine? It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me.”

This biography is from Wikipedia under an Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons License. Spotted a problem? Let us know.

Read full Wikipedia entry
Surrealism

Artworks

Film and audio

Features

  • Claude Cahun, ‘I Extend My Arms’ 1931 or 1932

    MicroTate 36

    Lubaina Himid and Peter C van Wyck

    New reflections on two works in the Tate collection

  • Roni Horn Images from This is Me This is You 1998 to 2000

    Faces that speak volumes: Roni Horn

    Elisabeth Lebovici

    Can a book with no text paint a portrait of a writer? Elisabeth Lebovici examines the challenging representation of identity ...

You might like

Left Right