Claude Cahun:

Claude Cahun was a French surrealist photographer, sculptor, and writer.  She is best known today for her surreal self-portrait photographs which show her dressed as different characters. Cahun staged images of herself that challenged the idea of the politics of gender which can be seen throughout her work.

Surrealism is defined as a 20th-century avant-garde movement in art and literature which sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example by the irrational juxtaposition of images.

During the early 1920s, Claude Cahun settled in Paris with her lifelong partner Suzanne Malherbe, who adopted the name Marcel Moore. However, the two became step-sisters in 1917 after Cahun’s divorced father and Moore’s widowed mother married, eight years after Cahun and Moore’s artistic and romantic partnership began. For the rest of their lives together, Cahun and Moore collaborated on various written works, sculptures, photomontages and collages.

In 1937 Cahun and Moore settled in Jersey. Following the fall of France and the German occupation of Jersey and the other Channel Islands, they became active as resistance workers and propagandists. The two were very against war, and worked extensively together to produce anti-German fliers. Cahun and Moore’s resistance efforts were not only political but artistic actions, using their creative talents to manipulate and undermine the authority which they despised. Cahun’s life’s work was focused on undermining a certain authority; however, their activism posed a threat to their physical safety. As in 1944 Cahun and Moore were arrested and sentenced to death. However, the sentence was never carried out as Jersey was liberated from German occupation in 1945. Sadly, Cahun’s health never recovered from her treatment in jail and she died in 1954. Much of her and Moore’s work was destroyed by the Nazis who requisitioned their home.

Claude Cahun was born as Lucy Schwob in Nantes, France to a wealthy Jewish family. But in her late teens and early twenties Cahun had been looking for a new, gender-neutral name. She fixed on the name Claude Cahun in 1918.

gender fluidity is a non-fixed gender identity that shifts over time or depending on the situation. 

Here is one of Claude Cahun’s most famous pieces of work:

In this image you can see Cahun being doubled by a mirrored reflection. She is seen wearing gender neutral clothing and short hair which goes against what a typical woman was thought to look like, highlighting the idea of her gender neutrality. Mirrors were traditionally used in art in order to expose two enticing views of a female subject or as a way to emphasise a woman’s vanity. However, instead of Cahun looking into the mirror, she instead looks at the camera potentially conveying the message that she is rejecting the stereotype of women being consumed by self admiration. This could also be a symbol of her uncertainty about her own identity at the time as she maybe didn’t feel like the person she saw in the mirror. Additionally, Cahun shows two different personalities through the mirrored version of her and the actual version of her. This can be seen in the mirrored version in which her neck is exposed whereas the actual her has her jacket covering her neck. This can relate back to the traditional view in which mirrors were used to get flattering views of women, maybe suggesting that the mirror is what society sees of women but the non mirrored her is how she feels about her identity and how she doesn’t fit into that traditional self absorbed mindset. These two personalities being displayed in one picture gives us an insight into the divide one may feel within themself regarding their identity and belonging. Overall, I like how this image has a deeper meaning then to what is initially let on, as at first glance, it just looks like a mirror is used to reflect a person but as you look closer and see the differences between the mirrored person and actual person, you get an insight into her life and society at that time.

Cindy Sherman:

Cindy Sherman was born in 1952 and is an American artist who’s work consists primarily of photographic self portraits, depicting herself in many different contexts and as various imagined characters. Sherman was always interested in experimenting with different identities and has continued to transform herself, displaying the diversity of human types and stereotypes in her images. Sherman works in series, typically photographing herself in a range of costumes. To create her photographs, Sherman shoots alone in her studio, assuming multiple roles as author, director, make-up artist, hairstylist, wardrobe mistress, and model. Many of Sherman’s photo series, like the 1981 Centerfolds, call attention to stereotypes of women in society, films, television and magazines. 

In Sherman’s Imitation of Life series of 2016 she poses in vintage costumes and theatrical makeup, as a variety of ageing actress-like women. Much of Cindy Sherman’s work is based around the concept of the male gaze, with many photographs of women being feminine and showing off their body or wearing revealing items of clothing. This also gives us an insight into society at the time who mainly saw women as pretty objects that were used in the film industry simply to look enticing and get more public attention, not actually playing an important role in the films. 

In 1972, Sherman enrolled in the visual arts department at Buffalo State College  where she began painting. During this time, she began to explore the ideas which became a hallmark of her work: She dressed herself as different characters, cobbled together from thrift-store clothing. However, frustrated with what she saw as the limitations of painting as a medium of art, she abandoned it and took up photography.

I think this photograph successfully captures the idea of Cindy Sherman referencing to the male gaze, as the model is seen in a towel which could be perceived as provocative as most of the model’s skin is showing. This photograph could also link to Claude Cahun as she described women at the time as being absorbed with their looks which is what this image is supporting the idea of. This image encapsulates the idea of a stereotypical woman in the 1950s who is embracing her femininity and womanhood as she is looking into the mirror instead of looking the other way as seen in Claude Cahun’s image.

Cindy Sherman Inspired photoshoot:

For this photoshoot, I was inspired by Cindy Sherman and the idea of photographing a stereotypical woman in the world today and how it compares with the women from the 1950s who she photographed. When I first thought of a stereotypical woman today, I thought of a girl on her phone as that is a prominent part of society in the 20th century. So, I decided to take photographs of different girls on their phone. I also wanted to recreate the feminine, girly photographs Cindy Sherman took of women and so I took images of a girl applying lipgloss which is seen as a feminine thing. I also used a pink light in these images in order to enhance the theme of femininity.

Overall, I like how this photoshoot came out as I think I managed to successfully capture a stereotypical woman in 2024 and get some images that are feminine, which is what I was trying to achieve. To finish this photoshoot off, I may try and recreate one of Cindy Sherman’s photographs from her collection called ‘This is how I look. I guess’ in photoshop as a final outcome.

Content:

For this photoshoot I used my first Idea from my mood board of photographing members of my family, their colleagues, as well as the animals around the farm. I have composed a documentative series of images of the working parts of the farm with examples being the kitchen, animals and machinery, furtherly I have represented the identities of business through photographing them in their usual places.

Best Images:

Yellow coloured:

These Images are a mix-match of images of either images I may possibly use or scrap depending on if I want them.

Red coloured:

These images did not fit the aesthetic because they where either blurry, poorly taken or not what I had in mind when I saw the results.

Conclusion

In the next blog post I will make edits to these images for my project with Masculinity, Femininity and Identity.

These are my photos for femininity:

Photoshoot 1

What?

These are ‘Girl Pictures’. Altogether, Kurland published 69 pictures of girls in a series called Girl Pictures.

Who?

For my first photoshoot, I was inspired by the photographer Justine Kurland. Her work is very adventurous and displays femininity in interesting ways. Me and two of my classmates took these pictures.

When?

I took these photos during one of my photography lessons.

Where&why?

The pictures got taken outside as all her pictures are based outside too.

These are some pictures before being edited we took inspired by her:

For these two photos, we went outside and took pictures playing in the snow. This was inspires by Justine Kurland as its outside and adventurous, it explores the fun in the natural environment.

In this photo, I focussed on portraying a friendship through ‘girly’ activities.

Photoshoot 2

What?

Sherman used cinematic conventions to structure these photographs.

Who?

The next artist I was inspired by was Cindy Sherman. I also used two of my classmates for this shoot.

When?

I also did this shoot in a photography lesson.

Where&why?

For this photoshoot I focused less on ‘girlhood’ and more on beauty as that’s Sherman’s style. I did this photoshoot in the studio.

These are some pictures before being edited we took inspired by her:

For these pictures, I focused on femininity through the phrase ‘free will’, by doing normal day to day things (makeup, phones). In these pictures, you can see girly traits through, hair, style, clothes, makeup etc.

this mood board is a representation of how I want to portray my photos for this project as I want to show masculinity through women and I want to show femininity through males by making females doing stereotypically male things and vice versa.

Masculinity

Mind map:

Mood Board through years:

Femininity

Mind map:

Mood board through years:

Photoshoot plan – inspired by Cindy Sherman’s ‘Untitled Film Stills’ (1977-1980)

My first idea for this photoshoot is to take photos of someone else inside or outside at night, which are inspired by the portraits Sherman took of herself in her series of photographs called ‘Untitled Film Stills’. In some of these photos she took, she is outside and is also seen wearing clothing which contrasts against the environment she is in, for example, wearing a white dress with either dark interior walls or a dark night sky. I could also invert these colours for more variety in my photographs. I am inspired by these photographs Sherman took because of how this contrast makes the subject stand out whilst within different locations and landscapes.

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My second idea for this photoshoot is to take photos of someone else inside, either in a house or workplace, which are inspired by Cindy Sherman. I might also use some props for this photoshoot, for example, kitchenware or kitchen utensils within a typical kitchen setting, or equipment which is used within the job the who I am photographing works at. For clothing, the person I will be photographing could wear the attire which is usually worn at their workplace, which could depict how women are portrayed in media, as in Cindy Sherman’s case, she performed and challenged the different ways of how women are supposed to look and act to be considered typically female in film in the 1950s and 60s. She also exposes the artificially and culturally constructed idea of gender and femininity with her photos. For example, in Sherman’s photos where she is in the kitchen, she is often seen wearing an apron, which was prominent in films during that time.

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I will be using a Fujifilm digital camera to take these photos, which I feel will be able to replicate a similar look to Sherman’s photographs, using this camera I could also set the colour to greyscale, or change that during editing.

Hannah Altman

Altman is a Jewish-American photographer born in new Jersey but now living and working in Boston. Her work tends to portray folklore, linage, memory and narrative. Particularly known for her work with natural lighting and in cooperating aspects of Jewish culture. She actually began photography as a child to comment on her near-sightedness and throughout her life she continued into the photographer she is now, having many qualifications in photography. She mainly garnered attention when she posted her work as a 19 year old, using glitter to show bodily functions of a woman in a project called ‘and everything nice’ this quickly gained attention from many major magazine companies. Over time she has continued developing her style to the unique and noticeable style she has now. One of her more recent projects is ‘we will return to you’ (2023) which is a series of portraits using natural lighting and interesting poses to make the viewer ask questions and look deeper into the telling of Jewish culture.

Mood board

Image Analysis

I chose this photo as it is a good example of a particular project of Altman’s I like. The project (and everything nice) went viral over night on Tumblr when Altman posted it in February of 2015. As a young collage student (19) she took the photography world by storm. Not only the photography world was impressed but the rest of the world, this was a comment on the progress on how we talk about physical image and gender expectations. Unlike most photographers Altman chose not to pick ‘a best shot’ for this shoot and instead let the photos speak for themselves and create different equally important reactions for each viewer. This photo in particular sparks my interest as nosebleeds are part of everyday life for everyone no matter of gender, age etc. However I like how it’s suggesting that women are still expected to make everything glamorous even in things we can’t help. I think there is this idea still present now, though much reduced, that as women we need to be perfect all the time and everything we do needs to be feminine. I like how the photo is composed with a close frame cropping and centring the ‘nose bleed’ and by making it the focus, it forces the viewer to look at it which we all tend to flex away from and grimace at normally, however it is just part of life. The background is filled by the the rest of the model but is very out of focus. I also wonder if Altman also wanted to comment on the idea that women wear red lipstick when they want to be bold and feel confident in their looks and when society expects them to, like at a ball. It looks realistic as the glitter is messy and not a single line but a stream that goes down the models face and in her mouth and on the models nose.

photo shoot plan –

photoshoot 1:

For this photo shoot, I am planning to use a snowy area/background including flowers to show aspects of femininity while using mopeds and cars to bring a stereotypical masculine aspect as well.

photo shoot 2:

For this photo shoot I wanted to go into the studio to create unnatural shadows and also wanted to focus on the masculine aspect to get a variety of different photos.

photo shoot 3:

This photo shoot was a bit different, I decided that I wanted to focus on the more physical aspect of femininity by using skin and body parts for the shoot. The inspiration for this shoot was perfume or product commercials where they usually use a lot of skin to show femininity in the products.

photo shoot 4:

For this shoot, I wanted to interpret fruit with it because fruit have a very prominent connection to femininity and masculinity.

photo shoot 5:

For my last photo shoot I included some of the men in my lesson to help show masculinity a lot even though they ended up showing femininity a lot more.

Contact sheet:

Femininity:

Masculinity: