Claude Cahun
Between the Quill and the Camera

Exhibition

This exhibition highlights both the diversity and the unity of the photographic work of Jersey surrealist artist Claude Cahun (1894-1954).

Biography

Claude Cahun (25 October 1894 – 8 December 1954) was a French artist who lived 18 years of her life in Jersey. She is especially known for her photographic self-portraits, through which she expressed different roles, challenging conventional gender stereotypes of the time. In the same way that her photographs express different aspects of herself, so it is difficult to identify her as just a photographer. She was an actress, a fashion designer, a political activist, and, above all, she was a writer. Close to the French group of Surrealists, she wrote several novellas, poems and critiques. Through a selection of about thirty pictures, this exhibition aims to show how Cahun’s photography was influenced by her writings, literally and figuratively. The images show the artist posing herself along with various items, such as dolls, dummies’ hands, quills and natural materials, like feathers or flowers, building a poetic visual and narrative ensemble that echoes the style of the surrealists. Thus, the exhibition Between the Quill and the Camera attempts to portray the main skills of this complete artist.

Exhibition curated by Marie Gautier.

This is a collaboration between the Priaulx Library, Jersey Heritage and the Guernsey Photography Festival.