SOLD. "The Story of the Century". An original English b/w press photograph of the model and showgirl Christine Keeler (1942-2017) posing semi-nude on a chair. – Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers of Fine Art

Lewis Morley: “The Story of the Century”. An original English b/w press photograph of the model and showgirl Christine Keeler (1942–2017) posing semi-nude on an Arne Jacobsen chair. Taken in May 1963. Back with an English telegram as well as stamps of Camera Press Ltd., London, Politikens Presse Foto and IFOT. Photo size 25.5×20.5 cm. Unframed.

At a party in the summer of 1961 the young model Christine Keeler met the British secretary of defence, John Profumo (1915–20006), with whom she soon after initiated an affair. He did not know, however, that Keeler concurrently was seeing Jevgenij Ivanov, then Soviet military attaché at the London embassy. When news about this Cold War triangle reached the public the result was an outcry, and something that contributed severely to the downfall of the British government in 1964.

The present photograph added star status to the Danish architect Arne Jacobsen's chair model 3107. In order to avoid any copyright battles a minor change was added to the chair Christine Keeler sat on, namely the carved handle. The chair is today in Victoria and Albert Museum in London.