Autoportrait
1929
Gelatin silver print
23.8 x 17.8 cm
In this self-portrait, Claude Cahum is posing in the role of the devil in The Mystery of Adam, a sacred, medieval representation of the story of Adam and Eve. In this representation, the devil also personifies the snake, an animal known for shedding its skin, a “privilege” according to Cahun whose oeuvre is in large part dedicated to the ambivalence of self-representation.
Through photography and writing, Claude Cahun incessantly reinvents herself with a sharp sense of travesty, playing the game of an exhibition that hides more than it unveils. Dressed as a woman, a man, her hair long or her head shaven, using various artifacts—masks, symmetries, reflections—, she evades the critique of social norms by constantly ‘changing her skin’.
Realized by Claude Cahun in 1929, this self-portrait was first presented by the Pinault Collection in the exhibition Dancing With Myself at the Museum Folkwang in Essen (2016).
Through photography and writing, Claude Cahun incessantly reinvents herself with a sharp sense of travesty, playing the game of an exhibition that hides more than it unveils. Dressed as a woman, a man, her hair long or her head shaven, using various artifacts—masks, symmetries, reflections—, she evades the critique of social norms by constantly ‘changing her skin’.
Realized by Claude Cahun in 1929, this self-portrait was first presented by the Pinault Collection in the exhibition Dancing With Myself at the Museum Folkwang in Essen (2016).
Exhibitions
© Droits réservés.
without frame