Sir Elton owns 'porn probe' photo

A photograph at the centre of a child pornography investigation belongs to Sir Elton John, his website states. "Klara and Edda belly-dancing" by Nan Goldin was seized by police from Gateshead's Baltic Centre on 20 September, the singer's spokesman said. The image of two naked young girls is part of an exhibition owned by Sir Elton, which is on loan to the Baltic. A spokesman for the singer said the photograph had been exhibited around the world without objections.

Northumbria Police were alerted by Baltic managers the day before five collections were due to be unveiled. A statement on the singer's website said the image, part of the Thanksgiving exhibition, was from a monograph of the American photographer's works entitled "The Devil's Playground". It was offered for sale at Sotheby's New York in 2002 and 2004, and exhibited in Houston, London, Madrid, New York, Portugal, Warsaw and Zurich. The statement added: "Elton John is known as one of the world's foremost collectors of photographic art and has several thousand photographs in his collection, including works by Man Ray, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Diane Arbus and Ansel Adams." Goldin, 54, who is well known for using semi-naked models, was not available to comment.

source: 'Sir Elton owns 'porn probe' photo'; news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/tyne/7013806.stm; BBC NEWS; 26 September 2007