Christie's Head of Post War and Contemporary Art Europe Francis Outred explained to CBS News, "This is an image which speaks to everyman on many different levels. At its most basic, it is an astounding picture of nature, which has been scaled and detailed to take the viewer right into the scene in the way that artists have strived to do throughout history." And according to the Christie's listing, the other prints in the edition are at the "Museum of Modern Art, New York; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; Tate Modern, London and the Glenstone Collection, Potomac." So, it's a good deal? more ›

Gunnison Beach in New Jersey is like most beaches, only with a lot more skin. The beach has been open to nudists since it became a public beach in 1974, but lately the naked faithful not only need to worry about getting sunburned butts, they need to worry about people snapping pictures. more ›

Remember that anti-abortion billboard that briefly appeared in SoHo in February, the one that featured a photo of a black girl with the copy, "The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb."? If so, you may also recall that the girl's mother had no idea her daughter was being used for the ad campaign, which also popped up in Jacksonville, Florida. The group that paid for it, Life Always, bought the rights to the photo from a stock photography company, and the mom, Tricia Fraser, signed a release allowing her daughter's likeness to be used for a range of ads, but she says this sort of thing wasn't part of the deal. Now, obviously, she's suing. more ›

Currently Sol LeWitt's manipulated aerial shot of New York City, called "Part of Manhattan with Central Park, Rockefeller Center and Lincoln Center removed," is over in San Francisco... but that doesn't mean we can revisit it from a distance. LeWitt didn't take this photograph himself, he contributed by cutting out three of Manhattan's most famous landmarks at the time. (According to Artlog, his “cut-outs from the 1970s began with commercially made aerial photographs of cities important to the artist, especially New York and Florence. In [this one] he excised with a mat knife three Manhattan landmarks, resulting in a jarring photographic object that prompts the viewer to reconsider the materiality of an urban landscape." more ›

Photographer Garry Gross has died at the age of 73 in his home in Manhattan... and perhaps one of Brooke Shields's greatest embarrassments will be buried with him. Gross took a series of rather disturbing nude photographs (SFW) of Shields when she was just 10-years-old, something her mother got $450 for; later in life Shields tried to get out of the contract saying the photos were "an invasion of her privacy and caused her embarrassment," according to the NY Times. She lost her legal battle, and one of the images even hung in the Guggenheim in 2007. more ›

Oracle exec Charles Phillips picked the wrong woman to two-time when he took up with billboard mistress Yavaughnie Wilkins. New information shows that the public embarrassment she inflicted on her former beau was payback for big lies he told during the 8 1/2 years they dated seriously. "They lived together for the majority of their relationship. She thought she was in a long-term, monogamous relationship," said Wilkins's cousin Misha Davila. "It never occurred to any of us that he was still married." more ›

Italian illustrator Matteo Pericoli "has executed an intimate collection of drawings — glimpses of the city, as seen from the windows of prominent New Yorkers." CityRoom takes a look at his new book The City Out My Window: 63 Views of New York, which includes drawings and stories inspired by them. For example, Stephen Colbert says of his view: "Because my studio is directly across from a windowless telecommunications skyscraper whose peak bristles with microwave transmitters, when I think of my view mostly I think about cancer, so I try not to think about it at all." more ›

Across the pond Brooke Shields is causing a commotion at the hoity-toity Tate Modern. The nude photograph of the actress at age 10 was to be part of a new salacious exhibit, which of course was met by the sighs of both children's advocates and religious groups, according to the Daily News. One outraged critic told them, "Putting a sign on the door like that means every pedophile in the land will head straight to that room." The Man agreed, and it's being reported that officers from the obscene publications unit of the Metropolitan police have taken it down. The photograph hung in the Guggenheim just two years ago, and features a "nude ten-year-old Brooke Shields, heavily made-up, standing in a bath." It actually is rather disturbing. more ›

A healthy marriage came from the age of free love! The Daily News reports that the couple from that iconic Woodstock image, which was like The Kiss in Times Square for hippies, are still together. more ›

You know that iconic photo of Albert Einstein sticking his tongue out? It just sold at auction for $74,324, and now belongs to a man in Great Neck, NY. Newsday reports that the expression was captured in 1951, and Einstein himself gave one copy (of the nine he requested) to American broadcast journalist Howard K. Smith with the inscription: "This gesture you will like, because it is aimed at all of humanity." It's the only time he ever came close to explaining his action in the photograph, and the new owner notes: "In the middle of a Communist witch hunt, here he is sticking his tongue out. I think he's telling us to buck authority." This is probably way more fun than owning those notes on relativity. more ›

At today's rally where he introduced Sarah Palin as his running mate, John McCain was apparently caught off guard by one supporter. According to the AP caption, he was "react[ing] as a supporter grasps his hand a bit aggressively," but we know our readers can do much better. more ›