Considered 'sexist' 20 years ago... yet now a 'feminist statement': Naked painting of 'Golden Girl' actress Bea Arthur sells for nearly $2million

  • The painting of the former 'Golden Girl' was called sexist and misogynistic when first unveiled in the early 90s
  • Christie's had hoped the painting might sell for as much as $2.5m in auction
  • Bea Arthur died of cancer in 2009 aged 86

By David Mccormack

Published: | Updated:

A topless painting of the late actress Bea Arthur - famous for her role as Dorothy in the TV show ‘Golden Girls’ – sold for nearly $2 million at a Christie’s auction in New York on Wednesday night.

Controversial artist John Currin painted ‘Bea Arthur Naked’ in 1991, it features the elderly star wearing a blank expression and sagging breasts.

Arthur never actually sat for Currin, who derived the work from a photograph of the actress with her clothes on.

John Curran's 1991 piece 'Bea Arthur Naked' has fetched $1.9m at auction

Sexist or empowering? John Curran's 1991 painting 'Bea Arthur Naked' has fetched $1.9m at auction

The oil on canvas painting was purchased by an anonymous phone bidder for $1.9 million.

There had been expectations the painting might fetch as much as $2.5 million in the post-war and contemporary art sale at Christie's.

After the painting was unveiled in the early 90s, it was described as sexist and misogynist by critics.

Others have since argued it is actually a feminist statement about confidence and age. A Christie’s spokesman called the painting 'visually lasting.'

Bea Arthur
Bea Arthur

During her career, Arthur won acclaim for her comic timing and deadpan delivery in roles such as Maude, right

'It’s historically significant - it’s radical to sexualize someone people think of as asexual,' spokesman Koji Inoue told The New York Post.

Currin’s work is now widely acclaimed and hangs in museums such as the Whitney. He once said he considered Arthur 'more of a maternal figure than a feminist icon. I watched "Maude" all the time when I was a kid. She's a genius. She's funny because she's so much smarter than everyone around her.'

Arthur, famous for her Emmy-winning roles in the 1970s and '80s television series ‘Maude’ and ‘The Golden Girls,’ died of cancer in 2009 at age 86.

Born Beatrice Frankel in New York on May 13, 1922, Arthur began performing in college and appeared in Broadway and off-Broadway roles, winning a Tony Award opposite Angela Lansbury in Mame.

Golden Girls: Arthur, far right, with her co-stars in the 80s TV show Betty White, left, and Rue Mcclanahan

Golden Girls: Arthur, far right, with her co-stars in the 80s TV show Betty White, left, and Rue Mcclanahan

In the early 1970s, she appeared on the groundbreaking television comedy 'All in the Family' as Edith Bunker's fiercely liberal cousin Maude. Producers who saw gold in her comic timing and deadpan delivery quickly devised a spinoff for the character.

Maude debuted on CBS in 1972 and became one of the top-rated sitcoms on U.S. television during its six-year run.

In a two-part episode that aired in November 1972, the show stirred protest and controversy when Maude decided to have an abortion because of her age. The procedure was legal in New York state, where the show was set, but not nationwide.

Two months later, the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in its landmark Roe v. Wade decision.

Arthur followed with Golden Girls, an unlikely hit from 1985 to 1992 that featured four female retirees living together.

Most watched News videos

Comments 57

Share what you think

  View all

The comments below have not been moderated.

  View all

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

We are no longer accepting comments on this article.