Claude Cahun’s work destroyed in bush fires

Michael Hoppen ‘How the original glass plates for Aveux non Avenus were destroyed’.

In October 2024, Susan de Muth emailed Michael Hoppen concerning the provenance of the digital files provided by Jersey Heritage Museum for museum quality printing. It was known that eight of the files came directly from the original photographic glass plates created by Cahun & Moore; the other two glass plated had been destroyed by the Nazis when they commandeered the women’s house during the occupation of Jersey.

Michael Hoppen’s reply contained some startling information: ‘I believe they were destroyed in the fire that swept California 6 years ago’.

Here is his email in full:

‘I bought many items from the Claude Cahun house, from the man who cleared it, John Wakeham  – and one of the items I acquired was Claude Cahun’s own unique copy of Aveux Avenus. It was larger than the other copies as it was untrimmed and was also inscribed as her copy of 1/1 . 

‘With this copy came the glass negatives of each of the collages. I have assumed that Cahun had each collage photographed for the book –  hence the large glass negatives.

‘As you say, sadly only one [original, physical collage] survives which I last saw at the Jeu de Paume show in Paris a few years ago – I wonder where the others are?

‘I decided to make 5 platinum prints from each negative and I have donated sets of them to museums such as the V&A so they can be displayed to show what these collages looked like. The prints were made from the original negatives and are 38 x 48.5 cm.

‘The book and the negatives was sold to [Californian collector] Manfred Heiting for his famous photography book collection but I believe they were destroyed in the fire that swept California 6 years ago’.