Gawker
The nude photo of French first lady Carla Bruni in her supermodel days sold at Christie's yesterday for $91,000, which was a bit better than its estimated price of $4,000. Some connoisseurs said the photo, by a lesser-known artist, wasn't that great, but maybe they missed the naked supermodel in it. Janet Jackson's iconic Rolling Stone cover shot brought only $10,000, but her boobs were covered up in that one, so it's understandable. The nude Gisele Bundchen picture brought $193,000 (estimate: $40,000). But the highest earner of the night was Helmut Newton's "Naked and Dressed" diptych, which sold for $241,000. We bring it to you for free, after the jump—NSFW, in an artsy way.
Comments
Time to count those page views...
@Nic Fit: I've set this as my new homepage.
Hey, that lady second from the left messed up the feet!
@Carol Gardens: I noticed that too and wondered 1) why Helmut Newton didn't notice it and 2) if it means that I am seriously disturbed if I am noticing feet in this photo.
@busyness: 1)boobs 2)BOOBS!
Liked her better in the Robert Palmer videos.
Alex McCord was so jealous.
Yep, they're attractive. Now back to renewing my car registration.
Wow...ladies with intact pubes. Haven't seen those in a long time.
He made them strip but let 'em keep their high heels.
M.O.B.
Blonde lady? You can leave your hat on.
Helmut Newton had a rare gift for making nude women unattractive.
@Carol Gardens: @busyness: I was just coming to say the same thing! It's really distracting.
Are you technically nude if you are wearing uncomfortable high heels?
This was the first picture of naked women I'd ever seen. I was around 7 or 8 years old, and staying at my aunts house for a weekend. On the shelf in the guestroom where I was sleeping, she had 'Big Nudes' by Helmut Newton, and this was the first picture I opened to. I remember being absolutely fascinated by it, but not quite understanding why.
Anyway, I managed to smuggle it out of her house when I went back home, and I still have it to this day.
why would someone pay that much for a photo when it's obviously on the internets for free?
@Smitros: I could not disagree more. Helmut had a unique gift. Marrying fetish, kink and gorgeous Amazonian women in a disturbing yet brutally sexual and provocative way.
He's forever in my personal pantheon of top 20 photographers of all time.
@McCheeburger:
I think I'm speaking on behalf of fellow possessors of a vanilla Midwestern sensibility in these things.
We can still be friends, right?
GOD BLESS AMERICA. Just when I think that we're totally drowning in moronic, lowbrow, reality tv bullshit, along comes news that this glorious work of art got the highest bid.
@Smitros: Absolutely.
Newton's sado-masochistic and fetishistic work is not for everyone.
Friends we are and friends we shall be.
NOthing like ugly clothes to screw up perfectly good nude models.
Ack! The shoulder pads! The too-short cuffed pants! Much better nude. Was that the point?
Carla Bruni is looking for an athlete to marry, to raise the price of her photos to match Gisele. Any suggestions?
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