Peter Howson Coping with Financial Problems, Peter Howson Sells Paintings at Auction Nude Madonna Painting Fails to Find Buyer Peter Howson Paints Madonna and ‘Ogre’ Artist Blasts eBay for Forgeries New Zealander to Head Troubled Scottish Opera

Send a letter to the Editor

Save to Del.icio.us Digg this

Howson was talking about his unauthorized paintings of Madonna and describing the possible reactions of Guy Ritchie, the star's husband.

Painting from imagination, Howson created ten artworks featuring Madonna engaged in such activities as grave-squatting and boudoir-lounging, with the singer's usually toned physique looking droopy and saggy, more like a "before" picture than an approved publicity shot. Madonna has sat for paintings by Howson before, the BBC notes, but never posed nude and did not agree to these images.

Three years ago, the paintings were exhibited in Ayr and sold. Now, they are being exhibited in Ayr again, as part of an exhibition called New Works, and two of them are being sent to auction.

Portrait of Madonna 2002 shows the singer "standing against a red background with a transparent top revealing her breasts against a muscular, sinewy torso," says the Scotsman. Madonna shows her "squatting naked in a graveyard."

Portrait of Madonna is estimated at £7,000-£9,000 and Madonna is estimated at £4,000-£6,000.

While Howson told the BBC that Madonna's staff had told him "the singer was scared he would make her look ugly," he also said that he believed she "would be both flattered and pleased that I had done this."

It certainly appears as if Howson did indeed make Madonna look ugly; one might assume she is neither flattered nor pleased with his renderings. Indeed, the Scotsman says that Madonna has made "no secret of her dislike for his paintings of her, and condemned him as a voyeur and self-publicist."

The paintings are being shown at the Maclaurin Art Gallery. The auction will be held at Gleneagles on August 29-31.

FOR FULL STORY CLICK:

BBC News: "Gallery unveils nude Madonna"

Scotsman: "Art sale opens old wounds for a material girl"
Images Courtesy of Sothebys