The first monograph on a groundbreaking Surrealist masterpiece, Reading Claude Cahun's Disavowals offers a comprehensive account of Cahun's most important published work, Aveux non avenus (Disavowals), 1930. Jennifer L. Shaw provides an encompassing interpretation of this groundbreaking work, paying careful attention to the complex interrelationship between the photomontages and writings of Aveux non avenus. This study argues that the texts and images of Aveux non avenus not only explore Cahun's own subjectivity, they formulate a trenchant social and cultural critique. Shaw explores how Cahun's work both calls into question the dominant culture of interwar France - with its traditional gender roles, religious conservatism, and pronatalism - and takes to task the era's artistic avant-garde and in particular its models of desire. This volume cuts across the disciplinary boundaries of interwar art studies, demonstrating how one artist's personal exploration intervened in wider contemporary debates about the purpose of art, the role of women in French culture, and the status of homosexuality, in the aftermath of World War I.

The beauty of the beach, surrounded by the unique lifestyle of beachgoers, complemented by special stories and extraordinary photos. The beach: this is always the place where we would most like to be. The view of the sea. The sound of the waves. The smell of salt water. This illustrated book portrays the beach as a place of longing, with brilliant photos and entertaining stories: How Coco Chanel invented the summer tan, how the special light on the coast inspired artists like Picasso, of the beauty of deserted beaches, of exclusive dream domiciles, of the iconography of the surfer and of the longest wave ride of all time. teNeues hereby presents the ultimate illustrated book about beach life. Beach villas and dream beaches are shown in exclusive portraits. Text in English and German.