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Jennifer L. Shaw

Goodreads Author

Born

in San Francisco, , The United States

Genre

Art, Fiction

Member Since

January 2010

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Jennifer L. Shaw is Professor of Art History at Sonoma State University.
Here are some reviews of her recent book EXIST OTHERWISE:
‘Claude Cahun may not be particularly well known outside the art world, but this highly readable biography of the 20th-century French writer, artist, and photographer ought to help change this situation. Jennifer L. Shaw has written a fascinating book about a gender-bending lesbian intellectual who challenged ideas of gender and sexuality in both her life and art . . . Filled with reproductions of photographs and detailed descriptions and analyses of her writings, Exist Otherwise is a comprehensive introduction to Claude Cahun’s art and writing. With any luck it will bring readers back to her unique body of work.’ Jennifer L. Shaw is Professor of Art History at Sonoma State University.
Here are some reviews of her recent book EXIST OTHERWISE:
‘Claude Cahun may not be particularly well known outside the art world, but this highly readable biography of the 20th-century French writer, artist, and photographer ought to help change this situation. Jennifer L. Shaw has written a fascinating book about a gender-bending lesbian intellectual who challenged ideas of gender and sexuality in both her life and art . . . Filled with reproductions of photographs and detailed descriptions and analyses of her writings, Exist Otherwise is a comprehensive introduction to Claude Cahun’s art and writing. With any luck it will bring readers back to her unique body of work.’ – The Gay and Lesbian Review

‘In this first full biography of the pseudonymous visual artist and writer Claude Cahun, Shaw is intensely responsive to Cahun’s life and work (verbal, visual, political). In the process of examining and commenting on Cahun’s unique life, Shaw travels across time and across surrealism, Dada, a world war, and the anti-fascists and their effect on art and life in Paris, Jersey, and Germany . . . Homosexuality is an important focal point, as are the anti-fascists and the active rebellion of the modern against the traditional. Shaw writes that as an outsider woman, lesbian, and Jew, Cahun “trumpeted her role.” This book deserves a wide readership. Highly recommended.’ – Choice

‘Jennifer Shaw has written the first full biography of Cahun in English . . . The originality of Shaw’s approach lies in her situating Cahun’s work and thought within contemporary Symbolist and Surrealist aesthetic and political positions, while drawing on recent feminist theory, unlike Leperlier, who tends to bypass Cahun’s lesbianism, and unlike some recent scholarly work which, in seeking to integrate Cahun into the corpus of women artists of the late twentieth century, can risk losing sight of her historical and cultural specificity . . . This study is a richly documented and well-balanced account of a major twentieth-century artistic figure, in which Cahun’s life and work are interwoven in such a way that they illuminate each other.’ – H-France Review

‘As a Jewish, gender-nonconforming artist living amid the rise of fascism and widespread anti-Semitism, Cahun’s artwork challenged social norms of the time. The new book Exist Otherwise . . . features her photographs, sculptures, and illustrations along with diary entries and writing clips that have never before been translated in English.’ – The Cut

‘Exist Otherwise is elegantly written and beautifully illustrated with artwork, and includes an appendix with short, translated excerpts of Cahun’s writings . . . in Shaw’s telling, Cahun models how to practice radical art and action during politically fraught times like hers – and our own.’ – Wellesley Review

‘Jennifer Shaw has crafted mounds of archival information – including memoirs, letters, press clippings, rare books, and photographs – into a story of Claude Cahun’s life and works. Exist Otherwise: The Life and Works of Claude Cahun, a highly readable page-turner, nevertheless engages fully with the complexities that make Cahun one of the 20th century’s most intriguing artist–activists and an inspiration to today’s culture makers.’ – Tirza T. Latimer, Chair and Associate Professor, Visual and Critical Studies, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, California

‘Claude Cahun’s writings and artworks tell the story of her own critical self-discovery, and Shaw follows suit, placing the works at the center of her gripping biography of Cahun as a woman artist and lesbian who managed to “exist otherwise” long before transgender and gay rights. In the graceful flow of Shaw’s prose, Cahun’s photographic projects illuminate and amplify her life, from the French provinces to Surrealist Paris to the occupied island of Jersey, where her guerilla anti-Nazi art led to ...more

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Jennifer L. Shaw’s books

Average rating: 4.38 · 58 ratings · 7 reviews · 6 distinct works • Similar authors

	Exist Otherwise: The Life and Works of Claude Cahun 4.35 avg rating — 52 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dream States: Puvis de Chavannes, Modernism, and the Fantasy of France it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2002 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Reading Claude Cahun's Disavowals really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2014 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Art Bulletin: December 1997, Volume LXXIX, Number 4 by Jennifer L. Shaw (Goodreads Author), Therese Dolan, Genevieve Warwick 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Paris And the Countryside: Modern Life in Late 19th-century France by Gabriel P. Weisberg, Jennifer L. Shaw (Goodreads Author) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2006 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Aquatic Mesocosm Studies in Ecological Risk Assessment (Setac Special Publications Series) by Robert L. Graney, Fred Heimbach (Contributor), Douglas J. Urban (Contributor) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1993	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Jennifer L. Shaw…

Jennifer is Currently Reading

Jennifer Shaw is currently reading

Land

by Maggie O'Farrell (Goodreads Author)

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Sep 11, 2026 07:30PM

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Jamaica Inn

by Daphne du Maurier

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Aug 20, 2026 03:38AM

Jennifer Shaw is currently reading

Unsheltered

by Barbara Kingsolver

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Aug 11, 2026 09:43PM

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Jennifer Shaw is currently reading Land by Maggie O'Farrell (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 11, 2026 07:30PM · like
Jennifer Shaw rated a book it was amazing The Maltese Version: A Novel by Katy Simpson Smith	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 11, 2026 02:02PM · like
Jennifer Shaw is currently reading Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Aug 20, 2026 03:38AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jennifer Shaw is currently reading Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Aug 11, 2026 09:43PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jennifer Shaw is currently reading Melmoth by Sarah Perry	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Aug 01, 2026 01:57AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Melmoth by Sarah Perry. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Melmoth by Sarah Perry <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jennifer Shaw is currently reading The Wedding People by Alison Espach	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 20, 2026 08:19PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Wedding People by Alison Espach. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Wedding People by Alison Espach <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jennifer Shaw is currently reading The Map Colorist: A Novel by Rebecca D’Harlingue (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Jennifer Shaw is currently reading Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life by Jason Roberts (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 10, 2026 11:15PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Every Living Thing by Jason Roberts. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Every Living Thing by Jason Roberts <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jennifer Shaw started reading Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jun 26, 2026 10:10PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jennifer Shaw is currently reading Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee in Readers' Favorite Fiction	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jun 15, 2026 09:37PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">