A tribute to Marcel Moore

Behind every Claude Cahun image was Marcel Moore, artist, visionary and radical of her own right.  Join the 'Small Island, Big Stories Sessions' to bring Marcel Moore into the frame.

Louise Downie, Director of Curation and Experience at Jersey Heritage gives host Mel and Perry a history of Marcel Moore, her work, her life and her legacy.

Suzanne Alberte Eugénie Malherbe was born on 19 July 1892 at 12 rue de Cassini in Nantes. Using the pseudonym ‘Marcel Moore’, she was the talented, but less well known, stepsister of Surrealist artist and writer Claude Cahun (born Lucie Schwob). 

In 1909, Moore met Cahun in what Cahun described as a ‘thunderbolt encounter’ – one which was to determine the course of their lives. Theirs was a relationship of love and artistic creativity. 

You can read more of the story here.

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Transcript

The Jersey Heritage Podcast: The Small Island, Big Story Sessions

A Tribute to Marcel Moore with Louise Downie 

Perry (00:02):

Welcome to the Jersey Heritage Podcast,

Mel (00:05):

The Small Island Big Story sessions.

Perry (00:08):

You are listening to Mel and Perry.

Mel (00:11):

In today's episode, we're exploring the life and legacy of the often overlooked collaborator and lifelong partner of Claude Cahoon, an artist, illustrator and creative force in her own right. When we speak of Claude Cahoon, we speak of resistance, gender, play, surrealism, a true icon, but behind every photograph, every political act, and every poetic disruption. There was someone else, Marcel Moore, joining me in unmasking the other half of this radical duo and paying tribute to Moore's legacy is Louise Downey, curation and experience director of Jersey Heritage. Thank you very much for joining us today, Louise. You're

Louise (00:50):

Very welcome.

Mel (00:51):

I'm actually really excited about this episode because I don't know very much about Marcel Moore. I feel like we all know quite a lot about Claude Cahun, but Moore's story is kind of safe to say. It's kind of more in the shadows, but I've had the privilege of actually seeing some of her illustrations from the archive. But maybe could we start with you introducing us to Marcel Moore, who she was, and maybe how she met Claude Cahoon?

Louise (01:12):

So Marcel Moore was Claude Cahun's, stepsister and and lover. They met each other as fairly young teenagers in living in t in France, in the 1910s, well about 1909, I think, actually. So they were both young teenagers at the time, and they met each other in what whom later described as a thunderbolt encounter. It really set the, set the scene for their, their life together. They obviously got on with each other straight away. And then clog ho's father married Marcel Moore's mother. So they became further entwined into kind of a family relationship, which in society at that time covered up their, their closer relationship really. So, yes, so they, they knew each other from very early years really. And both had a love of books of writing, of art literature. They very much shared the same passions in life, and they also shared a, a passion for revolting against any kind of fascism or any kind of forcing ideas onto people. They really wanted people to be able to make their own choices, to have freedom, to live their lives as they they wanted. They have had very much that kind of ethos in life.

Mel (02:39):

And how would you describe Moore in terms of her creative background? How would you describe her? 'cause We know that Kaho is a photographer. We describe her as very open to gender identity, but how would you describe Moore specifically?

Louise (02:53):

In many ways, Moore was actually a more talented artist than Kaho. Moore was a really good draftsman, really able to draw and to create images. So very, very design led, had a really good eye. So in that sense, actually, certainly early on would've helped Cahoon to actually develop cahoon's own artistic skills. So very much a, a kind of collaborator in many senses with Cahoon's work because more had that very design eye as it were, more, didn't make things, didn't paint so much, did lots and lots of drawing and lots of design work. So design posters, book illustrations, that kind of thing. So a lot of black and white illustration, a lot of line drawing and so on for illustration.

Mel (03:50):

And do we know if she was doing this before she met Kaho?

Louise (03:53):

Very likely. I think their kind of artistic skill was there from very early on. It wasn't till after Moore had met Cahoon that Moore went off to art school much later, so that that kind of skill wasn't developed properly until much later. But yeah, Moore had quite an interesting life. Moore was a nurse during the first World War. So what, you know, there's postcards sent back from the battlefield, obviously behind the, behind the front lines where Moore was actually, you know, a nurse probably kind of, you know, doing a lot of the basic activities. But yeah, so interesting life.

Mel (04:33):

Wow, that is incredible. I actually didn't know that she was a nurse. Mm-Hmm.

Louise (04:38):

Yeah, as I say, but more like not doing so much of the kind of nursing as we see it now, but more the kind of orderly kind of work. But definitely putting, putting herself out there to help during the first World War.

Mel (04:54):

The way I see Marcel Moore is that she was quite an anchor and quite a pillar for Claude Cahoon because, you know, we know that Claude Cahoon kind of, she had a, she struggled with a lot of things in life generally. She was kind of probably the more outspoken one in, in many senses, whereas there is this like undertone that Marcel was, was very much supporting her in many ways. Mm-Hmm. Do you think that might link back to that kind of, you know, that nursing background, like nurturing?

Louise (05:20):

Yes, absolutely. I think so. And I think Marcel Moore was very much the kind of power behind it, the enabling person. I don't think Cahoon could have actually created a lot of what they created without more there as that constant studying influence and an artistic eye to be able to lead things in the right direction. You know, it's quite a skill to know what to leave behind as an artist, and sometimes you need that really critical feedback to, to know when to take things on and what know when to leave things behind. And I think that was more was an honest person, honest person giving feedback for Cahoon.

Mel (06:00):

Yeah, because it's, it's, it seems like such a shame that she's overlooked because, you know, whenever the, the world knows Claude Cahoon, but not necessarily everyone would know who Marcel Moore is. Why do we think that she's so often left out the spotlight?

Louise (06:16):

I think Marc Moore was the quieter personality, and it was Cahoon that was the person that was in front of the camera that was creating the image, so was the person that was directing proceedings. We've got a couple of photographs in the collection where we've got both Moore and Cahoon in the same pose, in the same setting. So we think that Moore was actually like a stand in testing things, testing, lighting, testing, pose, testing everything in the, in the image. But whereas Cahoon looks very sure, very determined, very knowing what they're doing more is almost embarrassed at being there, much less certain of themselves doesn't really want to be in the spotlight. So whilst was enabling Kahoot to create amazing images, wasn't really the kind of personality that wanted to be at the forefront in the images themselves. Yeah.

Mel (07:21):

So many of the famous photographs that we associate with called Kaho were in fact taken by Marcal Moore. Can you tell us more about how they worked together creatively?

Louise (07:30):

So, as I said, they, they did have sessions where, where Moore would stand in for Cahoon and would be that person. That was the critical eye of things. But I think Cahoon actually acknowledges more in a lot of ways. So, for example, we have one photograph where Cahoon as a young girl, maybe about 17, 18, is in a swimming suit on a beach and has, is having their photograph taken. And in the bottom right of the print is the shadow of the photographer. Now, the bottom right of the print is where you would usually in most artworks get the author's signature, the artist's signature. So that's the kind of acknowledgement. And that doesn't happen just once. That happens at least twice in, in Cahoon's photographs in Vernon Avenue, which is an autobiography written by Cahoon Moore helped Cahoon in creating the photo montages that are illustrating the book.

Louise (08:36):

So they worked together on those And more is actually, again, the name Moore appears in the bottom right hand corner of the photo montages. So there's an acknowledgement there of, of Moore's role in that as well. So it's not that Kaho wasn't acknowledging that at all. It's more that we've created this persona of, of claw cahoon as the lead of that. And to be fair, once Cahoon dies, which Cahoon died in 1954, the photographs that Marcel Moore did after that are completely different than anything that goes on before. They are quite sad in many ways, but they're also quite soulless because they haven't got their artistic intent in them. They tend to be still lives tend to be not having a lot of people in the scenes at all. So they are, they're devoid of any kind of life in there, that other person that's bringing energy into that experience of, of the world. And I think that kind of culminated in Masal Moore committing suicide in 1972, you know, unable to live without that presence any longer.

Mel (09:56):

So before Kaon and Moore came to Jersey, they were obviously in France, what was going on in France in the 1920s.

Louise (10:04):

So 1920s France, well, they moved to Paris out of Ton into Paris. So 1920s, France was very much living with the results of the First World War. So, you know, quite a lot of French men had died during the first World War, leaving a lot of women without partners or potential partners. And a lot of advances had happened for women during the First World War. Unfortunately, the reaction to that in French society was to retreat back to pre-war and to invest in the idea of the nuclear family again, and with very distinct roles for women. So for example, even though Moore was doing fa fashion, illustrations of women with Bobs wearing trousers, wearing trousers for women became illegal. You could not wear trousers in France without getting arrested. And that law wasn't actually repealed until, I can't remember exactly when, but it was something like 2012. What <laugh>, you'll have to check the dates Mel, but it wasn't repealed properly until fairly recently. That's

Mel (11:22):

Insanity, <laugh> <laugh>.

Louise (11:24):

But it was French society was, you know, really repressive for women. There was a more investment in, you know, more, more opposition to birth control, that kind of thing in France at that time. But Paris was a very avant-garde kind of place, a very happening place in the 1920s. There was lots and lots of artistic movements going on in Paris. The surrealists were in Paris, Andre Brittle, those kind of characters were active in the, in the city. And Kauna ma Samo were part of that avant-garde movement of artists. They weren't a central part of it because their relationship didn't really allow them to be part of that particular group, but they did take part in a lot of political activity at that time. They signed anti-fascist papers and pamphlets and so on. So they really took a stance against the rise of fascism in, in France and Europe at that time.

Louise (12:27):

And it may very well have been the, the rise of fascism and their relative, well, cahoon's relative lack of success on the artistic front. They, that might have been the reason that they actually decided to move to Jersey in, in 1937. They came here as a place of refuge, a place that they knew from childhood holidays and place where they've been comfortable. So they kind of retreated to this island where they could explore themselves, explore their art in a more comfortable setting and away from the uncomfortable nature of the political regime at that time.

Perry (13:09):

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Mel (13:33):

So I've actually had the privilege of seeing some of Moore's work, and I was quite taken back at how beautiful and intricate, and she's got quite a specific style. So can we talk a little bit about her work and, and how would you describe it?

Louise (13:47):

Well, I, I think I would characterize it as very graphic in style, but if you think about what a lot of artists were doing in the kind of 19 teens and 1920s, a lot of them were working on magazine illustrations, book illustrations, posters, et cetera, where you had to not only draw the images that were going on those, but do the lettering and all of that kind of thing as well. So a kind of graphic style really lent itself to the, the time, but it's also quite sensitive. There's a lot of really sensitive kind of material in there. So if we look at some of the fashion illustrations that Moore did in the 19 teens, like 19, 15, 16, they're quite significant as well. They're kind of very lightly colored. So that's great to be able to, you know, see, see some of the color work that Moore did. They're quite avant-garde. The fashion, the, the actual fashions that Moore was designing were quite avant-garde. So we've got, for example, an image of young woman with a bob hair, hair done as a bob, wearing a pair of trousers, which was quite revolutionary at that time, but very sensitively painted, very lightly light touch to these illustrations. The beautiful, beautiful shadows, kind of outlining the figures as well. So a real good artistic touch in them, as well as being beautifully colored. Mm.

Mel (15:14):

And what would she have been using, would she have been using pencils or paints? Like what, what's her medium? Lots

Louise (15:20):

And lots of pencil, particularly for posters and so on. But the fashion illustrations are watercolor.

Mel (15:27):

Oh, wow. She's watercolorist amazing. Did do we know if Kaon ever did any, any kind of like artistic stuff like that?

Louise (15:36):

We do, and she did, but Kaho did do some illustrations more was the graphic artist in the, in the team <laugh>, shall we say

Mel (15:46):

That? Okay. Yes, sounds right. Okay, no problem. Do you feel like Moore managed to maintain her own artistic identity separate from Kahoo?

Louise (15:56):

Absolutely. Absolutely. I think that particularly in the 1920s and particularly with the fashion illustrations, more seemed to have been, have really enjoyed fashion, really enjoyed, like, you know, creating fashion. So that was definitely their own persona in that. And then in the 1920s, both of them were part of Avantgarde theater groups, and Moore did a lot of the poster illustrations and so on. And that is very, very distinct style with those that are, you know, recognizably more seem to also build her own relationships with, for example, actors and dancers. So particularly did a lot of illustrations of an actor called Eduard de Max, who was one of the leading kind of avant-garde actors of the, of the time. And with a dancer called Naja. Well, her real name was Beatrice. She was a American expatriate, but working in Paris at that time. So there's lots and lots of illustrations of Nadia dancing.

Louise (17:05):

So there, there is a very distinct Marcel Moore only style, but they also work together. So there's a book called View A Vision, which Kaho wrote the text for, and Marcel Moore did the illustrations for, and it's clear from the way that the book is laid out, that they worked really, really closely together. The illustrations almost act like a, a frame round, the writing. So it's not two separate things. They've actually worked together to create not only what people can read and get from the words, but actually how it looks as a presentation altogether. And that's quite key in, in Cahoon's of On Avenue as well, is the fact that the illustrations and the text go together. So it's that two person kind of joining, creating an artistic endeavor that's really key and comes out of it as one, one illustration that we have in our collection, which really signifies how close they are.

Louise (18:13):

It's called Zeon, and it's a little pencil drawing at the bottom is a shoe, and then it kind of turns into an eye and a set of lips. Very surreal. And this was drawn by Cahoon, but it's significant because, for example, the shoelaces are formed out of their initials L and S for Lucy Schwab and SM for Suzanne, Mel Herb. And they kind of intertwine to make LSML zamo, and then their names are repeated again above in the Lips together. So it is a very, it gives us a lot about a clues about their, their relationship and how close they were and how they were intertwined together.

Mel (19:03):

Oh, that's so lovely. I don't think I've seen that image. I'd love to see that one.

Louise (19:06):

It's in, on display in Terry Jeri at the moment.

Mel (19:10):

So obviously Claude Cahun, she, a lot of her work is representative of her kind of expression around identity you know, dismissing gender stereotypes and that kind of thing. How do we feel that Marcel Moore, did she do that in her own way?

Louise (19:27):

Nowhere near as much. I think Marcel Moore was more conventional in, in that sense, and was less inclined to question her identity than Kaho and less inclined to use her identity as part of her artistic endeavor. Kaho was very interested in the representation as an artist. Marcel Moore was more interested in representing other people, which is quite key. And we, we talk a lot about Clark work, but I think one of the things that we don't talk about is the fact that Cahoon photographs generally weren't for public consumption. They were for Cocoon and more to look at and talk about together. Not really the way we talk about them now as Artistics productions for an audience. They were for those two people. Whereas Moore's artwork is for an audience, which is quite different to Kahoot.

Mel (20:33):

So at the time then, would, I'm guessing more would've been better known as an artist because her work was obviously being seen?

Louise (20:43):

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. I think Cahoon was, would regarded their art more as in their writing rather than their photographs, and would've regarded themselves as a writer, put themselves forward as a writer first.

Mel (20:58):

Yeah. So it's interesting how now in our, in our day we, we really focus on Kaho, especially when it travels and, and people are interested in the person in the photograph, whereas at, in their time period, it probably would, it would've been more that was seen as the artist.

Louise (21:14):

Absolutely. And I think probably if you think about it, coldly and financially probably more made more money out of her art than Kaho did, because she was producing book illustrations and posters and postcards and publicity material. So was doing that kind of production as an artist and getting paid for that. Whereas Cahoon didn't have that kind of level of production going out into the, into the wider world.

Mel (21:46):

I find that so interesting because it really changes the tides of, of kind of where we see them in terms of, in terms of like a, a logistic time period. Mm-Hmm.

Louise (21:55):

So yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Really interestingly. Yeah.

Mel (21:58):

So during the German occupation of Jersey, like both Moore and Ka Cahoon were arrested for their resistance efforts, what role did Moore play in that story?

Louise (22:08):

She was a significant partner in the whole thing. Unlike Cahoon Moore spoke German, so a lot of the resistance activity they did was to write little scripts out and little pamphlets out propaganda pamphlets basically inciting the troops to rebellion. So more, Suzanne had to translate those into German for number one. So did not declare to the German authorities that she spoke German <laugh> <laugh>. And was the person that was listening to the BBC along with Hun two in order to, you know, pass on news and translating things into German to, so Mo Ma was very, very active in in that resistance activity. Where did she

Mel (22:54):

Learn how to speak German? Wonder if she had learned that as a child or if she had learned that kind of leaning into knowing there was war coming? Mm.

Louise (23:03):

I think previous to that, because she didn't actually go to art school until well into her twenties. Oh, right. So there was plenty of time to learn.

Mel (23:12):

So how has Jersey Heritage helped to document and preserve Moore's contributions to, to this big story?

Louise (23:18):

So we have quite a lot of Moore's artworks in our collection. As you rightly said, a lot of people around the world are more interested in the work, so that's what tends to have gone on lone in the past. But we do have lots of Moore's works in our collection. So probably this is a, this is a guess, but I should imagine that we have got the best collection of Moore's artwork because there is so much in the collection. It's all cataloged and available on online for anybody to go and, and search it out. Obviously we, we continue to look after those items in our collection going forward.

Mel (24:01):

And do you think that Moore's work is still very much recognized in like, kind of like the worldwide forum? 'cause Obviously we know that Cahoon is very well known like worldwide and her collection that we look after has traveled quite extensively in the past. Do we think that the world knows as much about Marcel Moore?

Louise (24:21):

I don't think the world knows as much about Marcel Moore, but I don't think Marcel's Moore's art is quite hitting the mark in terms of contemporary art world and what, what is making a difference in the art world today. Cahoon's work really does create an impact and has been compared to the likes of Cindy Sherman, for example. But Cindy Sherman's fairly recent. Cahoon was born in 1894. But it is making much more of an impact because it appeals to art lovers around the world today.

Mel (24:58):

How has Jersey Heritage approach the challenge of telling the story in a more balanced way?

Louise (25:03):

So we have over the last few years moved from acknowledging clo hoon by themselves on, for example, labels into acknowledging Clo Hoon and Masal MoSo. Anything, anything that, like the photographs that we've got on display in Terry de area at Jersey Museum at the moment, all the labels acknowledge Clark Cahoon and Marcel Moore. As the artists of those pieces also acknowledge, we've got story about their resistance activity, which obviously acknowledges both of their them being active in that, in those actions. So trying to kind of really bring Marcel Moore into the picture more than say 10 years ago.

Mel (25:53):

Yeah. Which is extraordinary to, to do. 'cause It's so, you know, it's really clear from this conversation that Marcel Moore's there might not have been a Claude Cahoon if it had not been for Marcel Moore. So it's, yeah, it's really important that, that we continue to do that in any way that we can. Well, thank you very much Louise for sharing Moore's story. It's been really nice to hear a little bit more about her background and how, how crucial she is to the Claude Cahoon collection. So thank you so much. You're

Louise (26:22):

Very welcome.

Speaker 4 (26:25):

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Mel (26:25):

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