Private view: Five celebrities who went nude for art

The American singer-songwriter known as the “Godfather of Punk” is no stranger to going topless when performing on stage, but he went one step further in 2016 by becoming the subject of a special life drawing class at the New York Academy of Art.

Based on an idea by artist Jeremy Deller, twenty-one artists from all walks of life participated in Iggy Pop Life Class to study and sketch the naked form of the star, who adopted a variety of poses.

“For me it makes perfect sense for Iggy Pop to be the subject of a life class,” said Deller. “His body is central to an understanding of rock music and its place within American culture. His body has witnessed much and should be documented.”

Iggy Pop himself praised the ‘very nice vibe’ in the room, and had a novel way to stave off boredom during the twenty-minute sittings: “The way I got through it, without going crazy, was listening to my own songs from my albums in my head,” the singer said.

The sketches created during the class were then exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, and will be on display as part of the From Life exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts from 11 December 2017.

In 2011 a nude oil painting of Sean Connery from 1951 was discovered in the collection of Selkirk artist Rab Webster after his death at the age of 83.

Webster had been a student at the Edinburgh College of Art when he painted it; who would have thought the handsome figure posing for his life drawing class would go on to become James Bond?

Before the 1962 film Dr. No shot Connery to worldwide superstardom, Edinburgh-born Connery would frequently earn extra cash as a life model for the Edinburgh College of Art, taking advantage of the bodybuilder muscles he’d developed to impress the local young women.

Richard Demarco, a local artist and promoter, was among those who painted Connery as a young man, and described his popularity with the ladies at the time: "When he modelled there were always lots of girls in the classes because they were attracted by his Adonis-like physique. He was a great inspiration for any artist and was amazing to paint and draw."

Eventually the beefy young Connery would be encouraged to enter the Mr. Universe contest, during which he caught the eye of a local casting director who gave him his first acting role in a London production of South Pacific.

Image: Sean Connery portrait by Rab Webster (oil on canvas, 1951)

In 2014, the American actress and singer was appearing in a production of David Mamet play Stop-The-Plow at the Playhouse Theatre; it was while living in London at this time she learned of local street artist Pegasus after seeing his portrait of pop-star Kylie Minogue.

Both figures were huge fans of silver screen icon Marilyn Monroe, with Pegasus depicting her in many of his pieces and with Lohan having often imitated her poses, including in 2011 when she recreated Monroe’s 1949 series of nude photographs against red velvet for Playboy.

Lohan must have thought Pegasus was the perfect choice to adapt one of these Playboy centrefolds and commissioned him to create the pictured artwork. Clearly enamoured with the portrait, Lohan posted on Instagram to show the work proudly displayed on her dressing room wall at the Playhouse.

British painter Lucian Freud was one of the foremost portraitists of the 20th century, and was especially known for his realistically detailed nudes, which sometimes required models to pose every evening for months at a time.

The painter met and befriended model Kate Moss in 2002 after she mentioned that he was the person she would most like to meet. After they went for dinner, he soon began painting her in the nude when she was pregnant with her daughter, Lila Grace. The painting took nine months to complete and was later sold for £3.9m at auction.

However, this was not the only artistic collaboration between the two. Moss was excited to learn that when Freud had been a young man in the navy, he used to do homemade tattoos using permanent ink and a scalpel for his fellow sailors.

He subsequently gave her a similar tattoo of two tiny swallows at the base of her spine using the same method – making Kate Moss both subject and canvas for one of Britain’s greatest artists.

Image: Kate Moss, 2002 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922-2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images