Elton John confirms police seized his photo

Photo: Elton John confirms police seized his photo

Police seized a photograph of two young girls at a British Gallery, owned by Elton John, he confirmed Wednesday.

Northumbria police said the picture by award-winning American photographer Nan Goldin was taken from the BALTIC Center for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, northeastern England.

The picture, titled "Klara and Edda Belly-Dancing," shows two naked girls, and was one of 149 photographs by Goldin owned by the rock star.

John confirmed his ownership in a statement on his Web site.

"The photograph exists as part of the installation as a whole and has been widely published and exhibited throughout the world," the statement said.

"It can be found in the monograph of Ms. Goldin's works entitled 'The Devil's Playground,' has been offered for sale at Sotheby's New York in 2002 and 2004, and has previously been exhibited in Houston, London, Madrid, New York, Portugal, Warsaw and Zurich without any objections of which we are aware."

Northumbria police confirmed on Tuesday that an image had been taken from the exhibit "to assess whether or not an offense had been committed."