A Manhattan artist who served as famed photographer Peter Beard’s nude muse since her teen years claims in a lawsuit that her own artwork is being held hostage.
Natalie White, 33 — whom Beard once photographed in the buff atop the Wall Street Bull — says she brought several artworks to FRaMist on Canal Street in April 2019, shelling out $13,500 to have them framed or stored.
The company refuses to return the items unless she pays another $12,000, according to her $1 million Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.
Some of the art includes “deeply personal” images of herself in the nude taken at different ages, while other pieces have already been sold to third parties, White said in court papers.
In addition to damages, White — who once gave cops a topless tour of an explicit art exhibition she was featured in — wants her artwork back, though attorney Michael Strage clarified the nude pictures in question do not include any taken by Beard, with whom White had her own long-running legal battle.
Former Peter Beard muse Natalie White claims FRaMist is selling her nude artworks to third parties. Chad Rachman“They refuse to return the art and are continuing to charge her to store the very artworks they are refusing to return,” Strage told The Post.
FRaMist didn’t return messages. Peter Beard, 82, died last year.
