Cahun & Moore – The Photomontages

Cahun and Moore created these ten photomontages for their 1930 surrealist masterpiece ‘Aveux non Avenus’ now available in English in a revised translation by Susan de Muth as ‘Cancelled Confessions (or Disavowals)’.

Click here for information about the creative process involved in making these amazing images.

Reproduced below, in the order in which they appear in ‘Aveux non Avenus’, the images precede each of the book’s nine sections, with ‘The Invisible Adventure’ acting as a visual preface.

Each image is listed as in the table of contents; the short texts under the numbers are as found on the pages just before each image. Click on an image for more information about its hidden meanings and relationship to the text.

Limited edition prints (large and small versions) of all the photomontages are available to purchase online on Amazon, Etsy and the publisher’s own website (where they are considerably cheaper!)

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Visual Preface

The Invisible Adventure

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I. R.C.S. (fear)

“At just seven years old, without realizing it, I was already looking for sentimental adventure, driven — as I am now — by impotence, and with all the strategic impudence that characterises me still.”

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II. Myself (self-love)

(For want of anything better)

“The siren is beguiled by her own voice.”

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III. E.D.M. (sex)

“Surely you are not claiming to be more homosexual than !?…”

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IV. C.M.C. (vanity, sex)

“Permit me to warn reckless young women: seeing the trap doesn’t prevent you from getting caught in it — and that doubles the pleasure.”

V. M.R.M. (sex)

“I played with words, these colours without danger. Forgiveness — but forgiveness for something else. And it’s so serious, so total that I hardly dare… Everyday life, this abomination! I exist and that comprises everything. Forgive me for existing.”

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VI. X.Y.Z. (lying)

“Never drop the shadow for the prey.”

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VII. H.U.M. (fear)

“Before renouncing this world I will dance before Herod, because he is interested in my sleep and could compel me to retrace my steps, to rethread my dreams.”

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VIII. N.O.N. (greed, fear, self-pride)

“It’s not enough to be vanquished, you also have to know how to turn defeat to your advantage.”

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IX. I.O.U. (self-pride)

“We get the god we deserve, unfortunately for us.”