CLAUDE CAHUN
A rare exhibition of a complete collection of photomontages by Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore opened May 7 at Studio 1347, 601 W. 26th Street, in NYC. After a three-day preview, the exhibit moves to Pool New York, 450 W. 24th Street, #1EE, where viewings can be scheduled by appointment (917-257-0207) from May 10-28.
The exhibition is organized by Alix Umen, who is currently working on a feature film, I am in Training Don’t Kiss Me, inspired by the life of Claude Cahun. The film, which screened as a work-in-progress at the IFP Market this past fall, follows Cahun as she and her lover/stepsister Suzanne Malherbe (a k a Marcel Moore) become involved in the Surrealist movement.
Born in 1894, Cahun, the daughter of a prominent Jewish newspaper publisher in the French port city of Nantes, was a “poet, essayist, literary critic, novelist, translator, comedienne, ‘constructor and explorer of objects,’ and revolutionary activist” who gained renown for advocating sexual and intellectual freedom in her polemical prose and for a series of photographic self-portraits in which she often appeared in masks, costumes and wigs.
Cahun and Moore moved to the Channel Islands in 1937, where they became active in the resistance against the German Occupation of Jersey. They were eventually arrested by the Gestapo in 1944 and remained in prison until the liberation of Jersey in 1945.
According to the Video Databank catalogue, “Alix Umen grew up in the midwest and early on discovered the differences between boys and girls. With a dislike for the conventional, she often cut her Barbie dolls’ hair short and made G.I. Joe wear dresses. She has attended the Minnesota College of Art and Design and the University of Minnesota. She made her directorial debut with Mad About the Boy.”
-
Anonymous
