Homage to Portrait of Anita Berber

Anita Berber (1899 - 1928) was an extraordinary dancer, actress, performance artist and writer who was ahead of her time both in her artistic work as well as her public androgyny. Today, she might be Lady Gaga. Her portrait, painted by German Expressionist Otto Dix, portrays her in a grotesque face/mask, her body covered entirely in a form-fitting red dress. The palette he used was predominantly red. I became intrigued with this portrait and was inspired to recreate it, still using the reds but beautiful Anita Berber rather than grotesque. I photographed the model, Claudia Carter, with my NIKON F80 film camera. I chose film because it has a dreamier quality which seemed necessary for a 1920s vintage look. I worked with “hot lights” (movie lights) many of which I collected from Hollywood studio sales. I then scanned the film to digital with my Imacon Flextight Photo scanner and did the editing in Photoshop 2021.