By Jill Lawless
Associated Press
LONDON — Few people have been photographed more often than Kate Moss, and some of the most famous images of the supermodel are going under the hammer at a Christie’s auction this fall.
The sale, announced Wednesday, includes a shot of Moss encased in bronze glitter by Allen Jones and images by well-known photographers including Annie Leibovitz, Bruce Weber, Mario Testino, Sam Taylor-Wood and Irving Penn.
The works, collectively valued at about 1 million pounds ($1.5 million), have been assembled by German collector Gert Elfering. He called Moss a “living icon.”
“Kate is the ultimate modern muse and we will be seeing her images in major museums and private collections for years to come,” he said.
Moss has been a star since she was discovered as a teenager in the late 1980s. Her waif-like looks took fashion by storm, though she has also been criticized for her association with the super-skinny style known as “heroin chic.”
Now 39, Moss remains among the world’s best-known and best-paid models. Christie’s director of photographs Philippe Garner said she was “the greatest icon of style of the modern age.”
Lots up for auction include a 1992 image of Moss nude on a couch by Mario Sorrenti, valued at 30,000 pounds to 50,000 pounds ($45,000 to $75,000). There’s also a 2002 image by Craig McDean of Moss wearing a jacket and reading “God Save the Queen,” with an estimate of 40,000 pounds to 60,000 pounds ($60,000 to $90,000), and a 3-D hologram image on a lightbox by Chris Levine estimated at between 100,000 pounds and 150,000 pounds ($152,000 and $227,000).
In addition to photographs, the sale includes a Peter Blake collage, a Jacquard tapestry by Chuck Close and — a must for every living room — an 18-carat gold sculpture of Moss as a naked angel by Nick Knight.
The works will be sold at Christie’s in London on Sept. 25.
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