Therese Lichtenstein: Claude Cahun pg. 91-96
Claude Cahun's work was a shock to many male Surrealist artists. Many of which were heterosexual men who viewed women as merely muses for their pieces. Cahun took the stereotypical view of women and twisted it by using herself as an androgenic image. Her self portraits show her distorted and almost disturbing. She also shaves her hair and wears suits to completely alter her gender appearance.
These portraits could have been her longing desire to also have the male privilege's and power in the Western culture. She radically changes the interpretation of women in photography. Before, we had only seen women either sexually, a child or a mother figure. Now we see an artist who has changed her own appearance to an androgynous one.
Her work reminds me much of the theatrical work of Cindy Sherman, who also alters her appearance through makeup masks and wigs, to change people's perspective of her.
Cahun's work was a directional change for a female artist to represent women in another way. This alteration of the beautiful muse to a confusing question of gender was a way to move away from only seeing women from a select category.
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