Features
2009 price For Nude Madonna Pic A Bargain
The Material Girl has lost some of her glitter — at auction, anyway.
Photo: AP Photo
Ford Field, Detroit, Mich.
A full-frontal nude photo of a 20-year-old Madonna sold for just $37,500 Thursday, a sharp drop from the $96,000 auction record set in 2005 during flusher times.
The Lee Freidlander photograph was purchased by Italian businessman Fabrizio Masoni. He is the owner of a leather products company in Tuscany. The photo will be added to the company’s art collection and be exhibited in its showroom.
On Thursday, Christie’s had said that Friedlander’s explicit black-and-white image of Madonna may have been the highest price ever paid at auction for a photograph of the singer.
But after further research, the auction house said Friday the record belonged to a print taken by fashion photographer Helmut Newton that sold for $96,000.