Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore

Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore

Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore met as teenagers and stayed together for the rest of their lives. They were collaborators, step-siblings and lovers and they both changed their birth names to make them gender neutral.

These Nazi-fighting lesbians went undercover as stepsisters.

They were brilliant women, quite out of the ordinary, and were quite obviously lesbians.

Barbara Hammer, filmmaker

In the 1920s, Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore were the cool kids of the Surrealist art scene in Paris. Their photos and collages captivated the likes of Salvador Dalí and André Breton. 

Que me veux-tu?, 1928

In 1944 Claude and Marcel were sentenced to death for dressing up as old ladies and secretly putting anti-Nazi slogans into soldiers' cigarette packets. Thankfully, the war ended and their lives were spared, they were even awarded a Medal of Gratitude by the French government. Today, they are still gender-bending pioneers.

Masculine? Feminine? It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that suits me.

Untitled (Claude Cahun in Le Mystère d’Adam), 1929

Untitled, 1927

Claude Cahun as Elle in Barbe bleue, 1929


More in this series

Artist Magdalena Suarez Frimkess stands next to a tall blue vase with gold elephant heads, wearing a white dress, holding a walking stick
00:59
article

Magdalena Suarez Frimkess

Discover seven spellbinding decades of mischievous cartoon ceramics by Venezuelan artist Magdalena Suarez Frimkess.

Cindy Sherman walks down a dark street at night as she pulls the collar up on her coat
00:58
video

Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman is a hallmark of 20th-century art. Since the 1970s ​​she’s taken pictures of herself as different ‘types’ of people from American culture and beyond. In this Artist’s Artist, we look at how the representation of women in popular culture shaped her history-making career.

4 min read
Photograph of Kehinde Wiley
00:58
video

Kehinde Wiley

Kehinde Wiley, born in 1977 in Los Angeles, is a prominent American artist acclaimed for his vibrant and reimagined portraits that fuse contemporary subjects with classical European painting styles.

Black and white film photo of Andy Warhol
00:55
video

Andy Warhol

Born in 1928 in Pittsburgh, Andy Warhol was a pioneer of the American Pop Art movement. His work is widely recognised for its iconic colourful style — mixing contemporary art with celebrity culture and consumer goods.


Insightful?

Insightful?

Subscribe to the Avant Arte newsletter for the art world in your inbox.


Discover more insights

Shelter by Danielle McKinney
article

Danielle Mckinney – Soul & Solace

Paintings by Danielle Mckinney articulate the soul through its ritual comforts, making the interior lives of Black women visible. We set out to capture the feeling in words, and with a community playlist.

3 min read
Gemma Rolls-Bentley poses in front of green cabinet full of various artworks
interview

Gemma Rolls-Bentley's Collection

For Gemma Rolls-Bentley, collecting begins with understanding your own values and what you represent. As a curator and creative consultant, this is how she approaches her own collection as well as those she builds for others – guided by the idea that art should hold real meaning for those who spend time with it. The art that fills her South London home is a reflection of the queer family she is creating with her wife, poet and dementia specialist, Danielle Wilde.

6 min read
detail of a silkscreen print by Ai Weiwei
article

Ai Weiwei: Decoded

A guide to the symbols at play in a divine self portrait by Ai Weiwei.

4 min read
corner detail of four original artworks on paper
article

Curated by Julian Schnabel

Palazzo-dwelling painter and filmmaker Julian Schnabel is back. This time, with a selection of original works by artists from his own collection.

3 min read