Rock musician Bob Geldof, writer Joan Rowling, playwright Tom Stoppard and many other famous writers, artists and musicians agreed to take part in the charity auction Book Aid International. Specifically for the auction, they wrote works on the theme "Between the Lines." The funds raised from the sale of autographs will go toward purchasing books for libraries in Africa, writes the Times.

Joan Rowling created a genealogical tree of the "noble and ancient house of Black." This lot caused a stir among fans of the books about Harry Potter, to whom Sirius Black — the last of the Black line — was godfather. Experts predict that the price for Joan Rowling's lot could reach 50 thousand pounds.

Bob Geldof, former leader of the band Boomtown Rat, himself organizes large-scale charity events. Over the past twenty years he has been the organizer of the biggest music marathons Live Aid and Live 8. Bob Geldof wrote a story about drug addicts. The work is not devoid of a didactic character. The author warns against drug use, describing the senseless death of the story's heroes from a heroin overdose.

The most expensive photograph in the world

The most expensive photograph in history has become Edward Steichen's image "The Pond. Moonlight." It was bought at the New York auction Sotheby's for $2.9 million, writes the Guardian. Edward Steichen, a recognized master of photographic art, took this photograph in 1904. "The Pond" was part of the Gilman Paper Company photographic collection, purchased in March 2005 by the Metropolitan Museum. And since the museum's collection already had one of the three existing copies of this classic photographic work, the management decided to sell the duplicate image.

Until then, the record price for a photograph was considered to be $1.248 million. For this sum, Richard Prince's work "Untitled. Cowboy" was sold at Sotheby's in November 2005. Besides Steichen, two other photographic works exceeded the November record. For $1.472 million, a photograph of the hands of artist Georgia O'Keeffe was sold, and for $1.360 million — her nude portrait. Both photographs were taken by the artist's husband, the famous Alfred Stieglitz.

Contemporary Russian art at Sotheby's

Sotheby's Russian sales in New York have been decided to be scheduled for April 26, writes the New York Times. Taking place for the first time in 2005, the sales turned out to be very successful, raising $35 million. Of the paintings, the most expensive purchase was Konstantin Makovsky's large canvas "The Judgment of Paris" ($2 million). Of the antiques — two porcelain vases dated to the 19th century ($3.9 million).

As the organizers report, a special feature of the current sales will be the presence at the auction of works by contemporary artists. Among the numerous works will be exhibited paintings by Oleg Kulik, Vladimir Dubossarsky, Rauf Mamedov, Alexander Vinogradov, and others.

Printed in the newspaper "DELO" No. 79 of February 16, 2006.