Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, two Surrealist artists and life partners, are the focus of a new exhibition at the Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis. The show, titled "And I Saw New Heavens and a New Earth," presents their collaborative work, including intimate portraits and photomontages, and highlights their daring resistance activities, such as creating anti-Nazi propaganda during the German occupation of Jersey.
This exhibition matters because it reframes the legacy of these visionary, gender-nonconforming artists, offering a nuanced look at their deeply personal collaboration. By examining their intertwined lives and art, the show provides critical insight into their radical exploration of identity and queer love, which was profoundly ahead of its time, and challenges the historical focus on Cahun alone by emphasizing their shared authorship.