Lot 234

[Richard Bernstein.], Candy Darling newspaper and centerfold. 1969.

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[Richard Bernstein.], Candy Darling newspaper and centerfold. 1969.

Estimate: $600 - $900

Starting Bid: $450

(0 Bids)

by Swann Auction Galleries
August 13, 2026 10:30 AM EDT
Live Auction
104 East 25th Street
New York, NY, US 10010

[Richard Bernstein.]
1939-2002
Candy Darling newspaper and centerfold. 1969.

Front leaf with tasteful conservation at edges, with a partial image on verso, excised from its rear leaf; centerfold with folds and moderate dampstaining in lower left corner, with two pages of other images on verso; both on lightly toned newsprint.

The cover and centerfold of an issue of Peter Hujar's avant-garde "Newspaper," an almost text-free publication which is in this issue billed as "The Only Real Picture Newspaper, Volume One, Number Five." A color version of the centerfold was also produced as a poster. We trace no other examples of this newspaper version at auction.

"Candy's friends were horrified—why would she agree to such a thing when she had invested so much in recreating herself as a glamorous bombshell with zero gender ambiguity? . . . . Candy was mercurial, self-contradictory, and seldom articulate about her motives. . . . Maybe for her, displaying the evidence of her assigned gender was temptingly transgressive, or maybe it was the deepest drag"--Lucy Sante, "Candy Darling's Newspaper Centerfold: Encountering the infamous collage of a downtown legend," in Yale Review, 18 March 2024.

  • Dimensions: Centerfold 22 1/2 x 34 in. (57.2 x 86.4 cm.); cover 17 x 11 1/4 in. (43.2 x 28.6 cm.).
  • Condition: Please contact the Specialist for the auction to request a condition report.

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