Acting Out: Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore

The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, Berkeley, CA
April 3 – July 31, 2005

Alla Efimova presented Acting Out: Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, an exhibition highlighting the political and artistic legacy of Claude Cahun (Lucie Schwob) and her partner Marcel Moore.

Drawing from surviving photographs and archives preserved by the Jersey Heritage Trust, the exhibition traced the couple’s avant-garde practice in Paris and their resistance activities under Nazi occupation in the Channel Islands during World War II.

Born into a Jewish literary and publishing family in Nantes, Cahun—alongside Moore—defied artistic, gender, and political norms throughout her life. Their collaborative work spanned photography, performance, set design, and writing, and their defiance of fascism brought together Surrealist experimentation and political resistance.

The exhibition was guest curated by Dr. Tirza True Latimer.