This exhibition presents an exploration of Claude Cahun (1894-1954, Nantes, France) and Marcel Moore (1892-1972, Nantes, France), two visionary, gender-non-conforming artists and activists of the 20th century who lived their values, even in the face of persecution and repression under Nazi-occupied Europe. Known for their work early in the Surrealist movement, they approached their work and way of life as a carefully considered form of resistance. Combining photographs, historical documents, drawings, and ephemera—with experimental storytelling by writer and oral historian, Svetlana Kitto—And I Saw New Heavens and a New Earth celebrates the creative output, enduring partnership, and risk-taking political commitments of these two artists. 

Through a more literary presentation, this exhibition voices a dynamic narrative arc that links objects with complex stories. Visitors will discover the surprising familial entanglements that drew these women together in the early 1900s and sustained their relationship, their enduring commitments to gender self-determination, and their underground resistance during World War II against an occupying Nazi regime which led to their incarceration and orders of execution. In these ways and more, And I Saw New Heavens and a New Earth will expand knowledge of Moore and Cahun’s inspiring life experiences, offering viewers a fuller, more holistic portrait of their art, passions, tribulations, and accomplishments. 

The exhibition is co-organized by Dean Daderko, Ferring Foundation Chief Curator at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis and Svetlana Kitto, writer and oral historian, with support from Grace Early, Exhibitions Assistant.