Art sale opens old wounds for a material girl
Category: Art.

THE sinewy, contorted image of Madonna, naked and squatting over a grave, caused outrage when it was unveiled, not least to the singer herself.

But if the star believed she and the world had seen the last of Peter Howson's deeply unflattering portraits, she was wrong.

Just three years after Howson's Madonna paintings were exhibited in Ayr - and shortly afterwards snapped up by collectors - two of them are coming up for sale in a very public auction at Sotheby's.

Such is the notoriety of the paintings, the auction at Gleneagles next month is expected to attract interest from a horde of international collectors who are expected to bid at least Ј30,000 for the pair.

Madonna was once among the celebrity collectors of Howson's works, but made no secret of her dislike for his paintings of her, and condemned him as a voyeur and self-publicist.

The first painting, an oil, titled Portrait of Madonna 2002, shows the pop star standing against a red background with a transparent top revealing her breasts against a muscular, sinewy torso. It is expected to achieve more than Ј30,000.

The second painting, a watercolour based on Howson's infamous portrait, Death and Madonna, shows the singer squatting naked in a graveyard. Sotheby's expects it to fetch around Ј10,000.

Last night Howson, who said he produced the paintings from "memory and imagination", admitted his once close friendship with the singer was unlikely to be rekindled because of the sale.

Asked if he thought the upcoming sale will reopen old wounds, Howson replied: "Maybe." He added: "I haven't heard a thing from Madonna since I held the exhibition in Ayr. I don't know whether she is not interested in me any more or she's fallen out with me or whatever.

"There are other people that are interested in my work now so I have forgotten about Madonna. But maybe she will buy one. She bought a picture of a boxer for Sean Penn but she lost that when they were divorced. But since then she has bought a number of my paintings.

"Madonna is a fascinating woman. I originally painted her because she collected my art. I remember she was quite difficult to paint as conventionally beautiful people are more difficult than ugly people."

Scotland On Sunday art critic Iain Gale said the arrival of the paintings in the public arena could rekindle the controversy.

He said: "It is by one of Scotland's leading artists of one of the biggest iconic celebrities of the day, and it's sexy. How much better does it get? It contains the three big things today that make contemporary art sell.

"It could be very controversial and reignite the old controversy. But how much have we moved on since then? Madonna has moved on; she is now Mrs Respectable. Another question is do these works fit in with her new image and how intrusive are they? One thing is for sure, they will sell very well."

The pictures are being sold by two anonymous collectors in the UK.

It is not known what they paid for the images but if they achieve what is expected it is understood the sellers will make a substantial profit.

Andrй Zlattinger, Sotheby's head of Scottish paintings, said: "Last year we had a huge interest internationally for Howson, particularly from America. Howson's work was doing very well in the eighties and then there was a lull for a while in the nineties, but in the last couple of years there has been great interest in his work."

The sale at Gleneagles takes place from August 29 to 31.

Source: William Lyons, Scotland On Sunday