National Portrait Gallery

This book draws together for the first time the self-­portraits of French Surrealist artist Claude Cahun (1894–1954) and British contemporary artist Gillian Wearing (b.1963). Although they lived almost one hundred years apart, their work shares similar themes: gender, identity, masquerade and performance.

Beginning with a visit to Jersey, where Cahun lived and worked until her death, and where the Cahun archive is housed, Wearing’s journey of discovery is examined in this beautiful book.