Crocodile Eating Ballerina, from the Pina Bausch Ballet 'Keushleitslegende', Wuppertal, 1983

This image caused a considerable problem for Peter Beard, to whose self-portrait from 1960 (lot 24) it bears a close affinity. Newton had sent Beard the catalogue of his 1984-85 show at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. This image was on the cover. Later in 1985 the police raided Beard's Hog Ranch home in Kenya on the basis of a corrupt political plot to seize his property. It was claimed by the police that the Pina Bausch artist was 'improperly dressed'. Beard was charged with possessing pornography and trafficking in 'abscene [sic] literature'.