Gillian Wearing & Claude Cahun

National Portrait Gallery, London

NOW CLOSED

Me as Cahun holding a mask of my face (2012), Gillian Wearing. © Gillian Wearing, courtesy Maureen Paley, London; Regen Projects, Los Angeles; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York

Behind the mask, another mask

This exhibition brings together for the first time the work of French artist Claude Cahun and British contemporary artist Gillian Wearing. Although they were born almost seventy years apart and came from different backgrounds, remarkable parallels can be drawn between the two artists. Both of them share a fascination with the self-portrait and use the self-image, through the medium of photography, to explore themes around identity and gender, which is often played out through masquerade and performance. Find out more about the Gillian Wearing and Claude Cahun exhibition from the National Portrait Gallery’s website.

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Me as Cahun holding a mask of my face (2012), Gillian Wearing. © Gillian Wearing, courtesy Maureen Paley, London; Regen Projects, Los Angeles; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York

I am in training don’t kiss me (c. 1927), Claude Cahun. © Jersey Heritage

Self-portrait of me now in a mask (2011), Gillian Wearing. © Gillian Wearing, courtesy Maureen Paley, London; Regen Projects, Los Angeles; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York

Me as Mask (2013), Gillian Wearing. © Gillian Wearing, courtesy Maureen Paley, London; Regen Projects, Los Angeles; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York