My Late Discovery of Claude Cahun
Bonny Finberg
I made this collage, using images from a book of hands. These hands were photographed by Horst P. Horst in 1941, two years after Cahun (real name Lucy Schwob) made a similar image with black and white hands. I made this collage two days before I went to the Claude Cahun exhibit at the Jeu de Paume where I was confronted with the person and work of my spiritual sister. She created surreal, gender-bending personae using herself as model and created photocollages and mixed media objects, which she photographed.
She moved to the Isle of Jersey with her lover/step-sister during the Nazi occupation of France and both, declaring themselves Jews, were put into prison. Her treatment in prison led to many health problems and is thought to be the cause of her early death at 60. She created an astonishing body of work, yet is not as well known as her male counterparts, Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp and André Breton, who were her friends. Yet again, I’ve discovered a little known woman artist who was not given her due in her lifetime.
It’s interesting that Horst P. Horst who loved surrealism and undoubtedly saw Cahun’s work when he lived in Paris in the late ’30′s, went on to become a very successful fashion photographer who photographed the rich and famous. However, any mention of the influence of Cahun’s work on his has eluded this writer in a search for some information about their connection.
Horst P. Horst photo of Gene Tierney, 1940
It’s possible that they met personally and maybe there is some reference in a personal comment he made at some point in his 93 years. It’s lack of mention, even on Wikipedia, is a sorry statement about the fate of influential women artists. V.S. Naipul’s recent take on female writers comes to mind.
