Dr. Charles Brenner, by Sebastian Zimmermann
Dr. Brenner served as President of the New York Psychoanalytic Society and was a cornerstone of the Society and Institute, remaining active there for more than 50 years.
“In 2005, I set out to photograph Charles Brenner. Since he had already retired, I met him in his home. While I was photographing him, I noticed a beautiful chess game in the back of his living room. When I asked him about the game, Dr. Brenner said that he had not played in a while. He mentioned that Freud liked to play chess in the coffee houses of Vienna. He added that Freud once compared psychoanalysis to the game of chess where the players could only know with certainty the opening and end-game moves and that the middle was more unpredictable.I spontaneously asked Dr. Brenner if I could photograph him in front of his chess board. He readily agreed. I took a whole series of images of him while he looked at me intently, much like a formidable grand master.I later wondered why I was drawn to photograph Dr. Brenner in front of a chess board. I think to me, at that moment, the game of chess was a metaphor for the warring factions of a mind in conflict.Dr. Brenner’s precise, logical and rule-bound style of psychoanalysis is mirrored in the royal game. And most would agree, Charles Brenner was one of the kings of psychoanalysis.”Sebastian Zimmermann, Psychiatrist and photographer