- Title: USA: Carli Bruni nude photograph sells for 91,000 U.S. dollars
- Date: 13th April 2008
- Summary: (L!1) NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (APRIL 10, 2008) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (German) HEIKO ROLOFF, BIDDER FROM ON-LINE MAGAZINE, BILDE.DE, SAYING: "I was very surprised, I lifted my paddle three times and then when it reached thirty-two thousand dollars, I was disappointed that I was outbid, because I would have bought the photo as a gift for the French President. That would have been a very nice gesture and also a nice story."
- Embargoed: 28th April 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVAE3TDQ4YNDBXMZZ4KF9WD5P6VB
- Story Text: A photograph of a nude Carla Bruni Sarkozy sells for 91,000 U.S. dollars.
The image of France's first lady taken in 1993 fetched 87,000 USD more than the highest estimate of 4,000 dollars.
A nude portrait of French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, standing in a pigeon-toed pose and covering her modesty with her hands, sold for 91,000 U.S. dollars, more than 20 times its expected price, on Thursday in New York.
A buyer for a Chinese art collector bought the black and white image, taken by photographer Michel Comte in 1993 during her modelling days. The sale of the photo by Christie's has attracted attention since Bruni married French President Nicolas Sarkozy in February.
The photo had been expected to fetch between 3,000 and 4,000 U.S.
dollars. It was auctioned as part of a sale of 140 photos from German collector Gert Elfering, which also features work by Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton and Peter Beard.
Josh Holdeman, Christie's Senior Vice President of Photographs, said the winning bid far exceeded expectations.
"We really didn't know what to expect. We all kind of were trying to imagine this morning what it would go for and we all kind of had, I think, a number in our head, but this far exceeded what anyone kind of guessed, so it was very pleasant surprise," he said.
The Bruni photo received a variety of phone, Internet and room bids, including from Heiko Roloff, a bidder in the room representing on-line magazine, bilde.de, whose bid fell short.
"I was disappointed that I was outbid, because I would have bought the photo as a gift for the French President. That would have been a very nice gesture and also a nice story," he said after the auction.
Italian-born supermodel-turned-singer Bruni, married Sarkozy less than 3 months after meeting the French premier. Sarkozy saw his popularity plummet in France during his whirlwind romance with the former model. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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