Self Portrait in Sailor Hat, 1920

Claude Cahun's gem-like self portraits were her response to conventional notions of gender, sexuality and beauty, which challenged the idea that photography, and particularly portrait photography, must carefully reproduce reality. She rejected fellow Surrealists' highly eroticized treatment of the female form in favor of something more neutral, adopting masculine or feminine characteristics in accordance with whatever role she wished to portray. A precursor of photographers such as Cindy Sherman, Nan Goldin and Francesca Woodman, she was, according to close friend André Breton, 'one of the most curious spirits of our time.' This print is believed to be unique.