Date of Award

Spring 2022

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Major

LACS: French Studies

First Advisor

Karen Humphreys

Abstract

Claude Cahun, born Lucy Schwob (1894-1954), was a French photographer, sculptor, writer, and activist. In this thesis, I explore the ways in which Cahun uses a variety of creative mediums to express different roles for women in the early twentieth century through her personal experimental processes. A gender-bending woman artist in a man’s world, Cahun’s life and work were in part a reaction to the sociological divide regarding women’s roles during the interwar period. She embodies this cultural change by challenging the norms of her time and making use of the surrealists’ fascination with the unconscious to uncover new ideas. Cahun, through her personal life and in her work, represents this shift in both her photographic and literary texts. Works that I discuss include photographs Auto portrait en tant que jeune fille, c. 1914 and I am in training, don’t kiss me c. 1927, and an adaptation of a conte de fée, titled Cendrillon, l’enfant humble et hautaine. My thesis is divided into three sections that distinguish the different phases of her work through specific motifs. These include her use of masks, mirrors, and disguises to forge numerous representations of herself. In doing so, she invites the reader and viewer to question their own perceptions of her self-expression and to question gender roles as they are both consciously and unconsciously performed in society.

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