Elton John Photo Seized In Kiddie-Porn Investigation

A photograph belonging to Elton John was seized Thursday from a British art gallery after a complaint was filed by the gallery's management, reports Yahoo.Police in Northumbria, northeastern England, were called to the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead. The image in question, "Klara and Edda belly-dancing" (1998) is one of 149 images comprising the "Thanksgiving" installation by renowned US photographer Nan Goldin. It depicts two naked young girls."The photograph exists as part of the installation as a whole and has been widely published and exhibited throughout the world," the singer said in defense of the artist.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.This isn't the first time a Goldin exhibit has stirred controversy. In 2000, French authorities probed an exhibition in Bordeaux titled Presumed Innocent that explored the "ambiguities of childhood" and featured works alluding to child sexuality by Goldin and such other notable photographers as Cindy Sherman, Marlene Dumas and Christian Boltanski."YAHOO!":CHMore here at "Elton's Official Site":OO[CH]http://news.yahoo.com/s/eonline/20070926/en_music_eo/5d2e7fe87cc4_4482_bae9_b7abedd95067[OO]http://web.eltonjohn.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070925&contentid=12923