Born Lucy Schwob, the French photographer, sculptor, and
writer adopted the gender-ambiguous name Claude Cahun in
1917. She is best known for her self-portraits in which she
assumes a variety of personas, including dandy, weight lifter,
aviator, and doll. In this image, Cahun has shaved her head and
is dressed in men’s clothing. She once explained: “Under this
mask, another mask; I will never finish removing all these
faces.”
Cahun was friends with many Surrealist artists and writers;
André Breton once called her “one of the most curious spirits of
our time.” While many male Surrealists depicted women as
objects of male desire, Cahun staged images of herself that
challenge the idea ofstatic gender.