Beleaguered porn publisher Bob Guccione has some new pictures he’s selling to the public.
As his Penthouse magazine empire continues to crumble, Guccione now finds himself forced to auction off a portion of his beloved art collection, including works by Picasso, Modigliani and Léger.
Unlike the “Pornikova” scandal of last May – when Penthouse printed the topless pictures of a private citizen it errantly identified, and promoted, as tennis star Anna Kournikova – the collection has been authenticated by the art experts at Sotheby’s auction house, which will preside over the sale on Nov. 5.
Prominent among the estimated $25 million collection is Pablo Picasso’s “Le Fils de L’Artiste en Arlequin,” a 1920s portrait of his young son dressed in a harlequin costume, expected to fetch up to $3 million; and Amedeo Modigliani’s 1919 classic, “Giovanotto dai Capelli Rossi,” which could go for $8 million.
Unfortunately, it’s a plunging financial figure that has brought Guccione to the auction.
Penthouse has seen its circulation plummet from 5 million in the mid-1980s to 650,000. In the past few years, men’s magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse have lost ground to men’s general-interest publications like Maxim and FHM that skirt overt nudity.
Guccione also hopes to add to his depleted coffer when his 30-room Upper East Side townhouse, with a last asking price of $37 million, goes on the auction block on Nov. 15.
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CLEARANCE SALE
A dozen works by impressionist and Modern artists from the Robert C. Guccione Collection will be sold through Sotheby’s next month, including the following portraits:
* “Giovanotto Dai Capelli Rossi” by Amedeo Modigliani is estimated to pull in up to $8 million.
* Pablo Picasso’s “Le Fils de L’Artiste en Arlequin,” worth an estimated $2 million to $3 million.