First Advisor
Carmen Ripollés
Date of Award
Spring 6-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Art History and University Honors
Department
Art History
Language
English
Subjects
Claude Cahun, Modern Art, Surrealism, Surrealist Object, Still Life, Art History
Abstract
The French artist and writer Claude Cahun (1894-1954) is best known for her early self-portraiture. These photographs take place in theatrical spaces and witness the artist donning costumes and masks, playing out different identifiers and gender roles. Beginning with the discovery of Cahun’s work in the 1990s, the scholarly conversation has focused entirely on the artists early work based on a perceived kinship with postmodern notions of identity. While this early body of work is fascinating, attention to it has been singular, shaping how the rest of Cahun’s work is understood. To trouble this one-dimensional view of Cahun as an artist, this thesis focuses on the overlooked works and objects of the artists later work. Beginning in 1936 with Claude Cahun’s participation in the Surrealist Exhibition of Objects, we will explore Cahun’s engagement with Surrealist, domestic, and natural objects. This shift in viewpoint allows for a new consideration of how Cahun’s work unsettles societal and artistic conventions and offers a view of her later work as an integral culmination of her art practice.
Recommended Citation
Longstreth, zuzu, "Objects Against Convention: An Objective Study of Claude Cahun’s Overlooked Works" (2025). University Honors Theses. Paper 1645.