Queer, Surrealist Lovers Defied Nazi Occupation

New exhibition explores the radical, gender-fluid art of Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore.

Mar. 13, 2026 at 10:19pm

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A new exhibition at the Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis explores the lives and groundbreaking artistic collaboration of Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, two avant-garde, gender non-conforming artists who embraced fluid identities and created subversive art in the face of Nazi occupation.

Why it matters

The exhibition highlights the incredible power of art as a form of resistance, even in the face of oppression. Cahun and Moore's story also offers revelatory insights into the history of queer identity and creativity, challenging traditional narratives around authorship and gender.

The details

Cahun and Moore, born Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe, met as teenagers in France and became lifelong lovers and artistic collaborators. They adopted gender-neutral names and espoused a fluid understanding of gender in their work, which included striking photomontages, intimate portraits, and Dada-inspired "paper bullet" interventions against the Nazis during the occupation of Jersey. Though little-known in their lifetimes, their radical legacy is now being celebrated.

  • Cahun and Moore met as teenagers in the early 1900s.
  • They moved to Paris in 1920 and fell in with the Surrealist circles.
  • In 1937, they sought refuge on the island of Jersey, where they endured the Nazi occupation from 1940 to 1944.
  • Cahun died in 1954, and Moore planned her gravestone with the title of the exhibition, "And I Saw New Heavens and a New Earth".
  • Most of their work was rediscovered and donated to the Jersey Heritage Trust in the 1990s and 2000s.

The players

Claude Cahun

An avant-garde artist who embraced fluid gender identity and collaborated extensively with her lifelong partner, Marcel Moore.

Marcel Moore

An artist and illustrator who was in a lifelong creative partnership with Claude Cahun, playing a key role in constructing their collaborative photographic works.

Dean Daderko

The chief curator at the Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis, who co-curated the exhibition "And I Saw New Heavens and a New Earth".

Svetlana Kitto

A writer and oral historian who co-curated the exhibition "And I Saw New Heavens and a New Earth" with Dean Daderko.

André Breton

A French writer and poet who was a key figure in the Surrealist movement and associated with Cahun and Moore during their time in Paris.

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What they’re saying

“Beyond just work, there is an incredible story of two people. Here are two women who photographed each other for the entirety of their lives together.”

— Svetlana Kitto, Co-curator (artnet.com)

“Many people know the work and the name Claude Cahun, but they don't know anything about Marcel Moore or about this relationship that really was the governing force in these two people's lives from a very young age.”

— Dean Daderko, Chief Curator (artnet.com)

“If Marcel Moore had been a man taking these photographs of this extraordinary person in all these costumes, it would immediately have been assumed that this was a muse situation. The reason it was not is quite simple: misogyny, blindness, and homophobia.”

— Svetlana Kitto, Co-curator (artnet.com)

What’s next

The exhibition "And I Saw New Heavens and a New Earth" is on view at the Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis through August 9, 2026, offering visitors a chance to discover the radical, gender-fluid art and lives of Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore.

The takeaway

The story of Cahun and Moore's artistic collaboration and resistance against the Nazis highlights the power of art to challenge oppression and traditional notions of identity. Their legacy offers a vital counterpoint to the rise of authoritarian regimes, inspiring contemporary audiences to embrace self-determination and creative expression as acts of defiance.