CAHUN, CLAUDE (1894-1954)
Untitled (Self-portrait with friend). Silver print, 41/4x31/4 inches (10.8x8.4 cm.). 1929
Estimate $15,000-25,000

this photograph was formerly in the collection of claude givaudan, geneva, switzerland and, subsequently, galerie berggruen. Lucy Schwab, who took the pseudonym Claude Cahun (1894-1954), was a photographer, writer, activist, and artist associated with the Surrealists, who later influenced post-modernist artists like Cindy Sherman. The chameleon-like Cahun created a formidable body of work in which self-transformation, camouflage and subterfuge all figure prominently, positioning her at the heretofore unexplored nexus of photography and performance art.

In 1922, Cahun and her lover, Suzanne Malherbe (a childhood friend), moved into 70 Notre-Dame-des Champs road, in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris. Cahun's theatrical transvestitism resulted in public displays in which she'd appear on the arm of Malherbe, in extravagant dress or in the suit of a man, monocle over one eye. Interestingly, her cross-dressing was both the subject of her own photographs and the object of public gaze, turning the ideas of femininity on its head by assuming the masquerade of either gender at will, flaunting the interchangability of myriad roles, and thereby exposing them as social constructs as opposed to inherent truths. Later on, at the suggestion of Andre Breton, in the 1930s Cahun turned to writing, publishing several books. She wrote of her work in aveux non avenus: "Sous ce masque un visage. Je n'en finirai pas de soulever tous ces visages."

Recently the subject of numerous exhibitions, including a retrospective at the Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, this photograph appeared in the exhibition at the Kunstverein (Munich) and is reproduced in claude cahun, bilder (Schirmer/Mosel, 1995), pl. 294.

Sale 2045 - Lot 386

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