/ 26 September 2007

Elton John says he owns photo seized by bobbies

Elton John confirmed on Wednesday that he owned a photograph of two young girls which was seized by police at a British gallery.

Northumbria police said the picture by award-winning American photographer Nan Goldin was taken from the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, north-eastern England.

The picture, titled Klara and Edda Belly-Dancing, shows two naked girls, and was one of 149 photographs by Goldin owned by the rock star.

John confirmed his ownership in a statement on his website.

”The photograph exists as part of the installation as a whole and has been widely published and exhibited throughout the world,” the statement said.

”It can be found in the monograph of Ms Goldin’s works entitled The Devil’s Playground, has been offered for sale at Sotheby’s New York in 2002 and 2004, and has previously been exhibited in Houston, London, Madrid, New York, Portugal, Warsaw and Zurich without any objections of which we are aware.”

Northumbria police confirmed on Tuesday that an image had been taken from the exhibit ”to assess whether or not an offence had been committed”. – Sapa-AP