I came across this the other day while seeking inspiration (and appropriation) from a Helmut Newton photograph.
I've become increasingly obsessed with it. Everything about it: the woman with that signature-Newton statuesque physique; the opulence of the room; the brace, the cast, the cane; the contradiction of its sexuality, seemingly shot with that German, almost-clinical eye that somehow also seems to come from some darker, perverse corner of the subconscious. There's something profoundly arousing and boldly sensual about her it, despite her injuries -- she's hardly handicapped or helpless; there's no question she's the dominant one.
Suddenly, I understood the cripple fantasy.
In my appropriation of it for a particular project, I renamed it La Cripplette and gave the model the persona of Bernadette. In my
research, however, I found out that its actual title is:
Jenny Kapitan, Pension Dorian, Berlin, 1977. It was shot in my birth year... Perfect.
I'm now obsessed with seeing the original, full sized print. I'm obsessed with possessing it one day.
I understand the obsessiveness that grips private art collectors...especially the ones who actually contract art heists. They've just got to have it.
