The notorious photograph, Man In A Polyester Suit, taken in 1980 by photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, sold at a Sotheby’s (New York) auction on Wednesday for $478,000. The sale makes the photograph one of the most expenisve photos ever sold, though it’s still quite a ways off from list topper, Rhein II which sold for a whopping $4.3M.

As some of you may recall, Man In A Polyester Suit–a NSFW photo which shows a man wearing a three piece suit with his penis out has had a troubled history. In 1989, Cincinnati’s Contemporary Arts Center put the image on exhibition, which resulted in public outrage and criminal obscenity charges against the Center’s director. He was acquitted in 1990.[Read More…]