Acting Out: Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore
September 23, 2005 - February 12, 2006
Acting Out: Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore is the first exhibition to examine the art of Claude Cahun (born Lucy Schwob) in the context of her lifelong partnership and collaboration with Marcel Moore (born Suzanne Malherbe). The philosophical, political, and aesthetic implications of this partnership permeate everything produced by the couple.
From 1920–1937 they lived and worked in Paris under the pseudonyms Cahun and Moore, subsequently moving to the Isle of Jersey, where they endured Nazi occupation during WWII. While in Paris, they participated in avant-garde theater (Cahun performed and Moore designed sets and costumes); volunteered at Sylvia Beach’s bookstore, Shakespeare & Co.; hosted cultural and political meetings in their Montparnasse studio; and became active participants in the Surrealist movement.
Acting Out: Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore introduces rarely viewed photographs and documents from the collections of the Jersey Heritage Trust.
The exhibition is curated by Guest Curator Dr. Tirza True Latimer for the Judah L. Magnes Museum of Berkeley, California, and is presented through the generosity of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, with additional support from the Consulat Général de France à San Francisco.
Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore. Untitled [Cahun as Medusa], 1914. Print from copy negative of black and white photograph. Jersey Heritage Trust [JHT/2003/#???]. [5x7].