![]() ![]() Not because The Helga Pictures are somehow in the words of Jack Flam an “essentially tasteless endeavor”, but because they portray something almost too intimate. The scandal, which surrounded the pieces is unsurprising. The confident thrust of Christina’s body, held back only by her legs, contrasts the strange mix of the bent fingers of Testorf’s hand, trapped beneath her buttocks, and the stringy flaxen strands of her hair, which refuse to stay braided. Her turned head is distinct from that of Christina’s: Testorf seems passive, almost ashamed, whereas Christina seems oblivious and uncaring of her viewer. The hint of a similar hillside is offered, but Testorf is kept separated, unlike Christina, she is only treated to the illusion of an exterior world, not its reality. The shadows cast thick dark lines across her almost as though they are the bars on a cage. ![]() ![]() In Lovers, Testorf is naked, sitting alone on a stool in a dark room, her head turned away, the window next to her, half-open, and her body lit only by mid-afternoon light. ![]() There is a sense of independence, and self-sufficiency. In the latter Wyeth depicted a paraplegic woman, clothed and alone in a wide world looking back at her own home. Lovers, 1981, serves as an interesting contrast to Christina’s World. ![]()
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