The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Lobster Claw

c. 1929

Jean Painlevé

(French, 1902–1989)
France, 20th century
gelatin silver print
Image: 22.9 x 17.3 cm (9 x 6 13/16 in.); Paper: 24.2 x 18.4 cm (9 1/2 x 7 1/4 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 2007.99
Location: Not on view

Description

A hallmark of Surrealism is the ability to get the viewer to look at a commonplace object or scene and suddenly see it differently. By simply removing the object from context and turning the image on end here, the transformation was realized. Its two creators often worked in a documentary mode, but sometimes ventured beyond it to explore the boundaries between Realism and Surrealism.
  • The artist's family, Paris
    Alain Paviot, Paris
    Jack Banning [1931-2005], New York, NY
    (Ubu Gallery, New York, NY)
    David Raymond [b.1979], New York, NY
    2007-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E. Hinson, Ian Walker, and Lisa Kurzner. Forbidden Games: Surrealist and Modernist Photography : the David Raymond Collection in the Cleveland Museum of Art. 2014. Mentioned: p. 53; reproduced: p. 55; reproduced and mentioned: p. 229.
    Schaffner, Ingrid, Julien Levy, and Colin Westerbeck. Accommodations of Desire: Surrealist Works on Paper Collected by Julien Levy. Pasadena, Calif: Curatorial Assistance, Inc, 2004. Reproduced: p. 82; mentioned p. 122.
    Heu Bernard. "Pour le cineaste Painleve, les vedettes sont millimetrees." Telemagazine 168 (January 1959): 8-9.
  • Forbidden Games: Surrealist and Modernist Photography. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 19, 2014-January 11, 2015).
    Accommodations of Desire: Surrealist Works on Paper Collected by Julien Levy. Palmer Museum of Art (September 14-December 5, 2004); McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, MA (January 16-March 27, 2005); Crocker Art Museum, Sacaramento, CA (July 9-September 11, 2005); Portland Museum of Art (January 1-March 19, 2006).
  • {{cite web|title=Lobster Claw|url=false|author=Jean Painlevé|year=c. 1929|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2007.99