American artist Jeff Koons DID copy photograph by another artist for his sculpture Naked as court rules he must pay share of £17,000 in damages
- Sculpture ‘Naked’ copied a photograph by French artist Jean-Francois Bauret
- Jeff Koons LLC and Pompidou Centre in Paris must together pay the damages
- Koons has been accused of plagiarism, but he says he is an appropriation artist
American pop artist Jeff Koons’s sculpture ‘Naked’ had plagiarised another artwork, a Paris appeals court found. Pictured: Jeff Koons in 2018
American pop artist Jeff Koons’s sculpture ‘Naked’ had plagiarised another artwork as a Paris appeals court ruled he must pay damages.
The court this week stood by a ruling two years ago that found the 1988 porcelain sculpture of two naked children had copied a photograph by French artist Jean-Francois Bauret.
The artist’s company Jeff Koons LLC and the Pompidou Centre in Paris – where his work was due to be displayed – must together pay 20,000 euros (around £17,000) to Bauret’s family.
Jeff Koons LLC must pay another 4,000 euros (around £3,400) to the family of the late photographer for using a picture of the sculpture, part of his ‘Banality’ series, on his website.
Koons has often been accused of plagiarism, but he says he is merely an appropriation artist.
The ‘Naked’ sculpture was due to have been displayed in a major Jeff Koons retrospective at the Pompidou contemporary art museum from November 2014 to April 2015.
It never actually went on show because it was damaged during transport but pictures of it were reproduced in advertising and in media reports.
The ‘Naked’ sculpture (left), which stands a little over one metre (three feet) high, depicts a little boy offering a bouquet of flowers to a young girl. The court ruled that the sculpture was a copy of Bouret’s photograph ‘Enfants’ which was published in 1975 in the form of a postcard, and depicted two naked children in an identical pose
The artist’s company Jeff Koons LLC and the Pompidou Centre in Paris – where his work was due to be displayed – must together pay 20,000 euros (around £17,000) to Bauret’s family. Pictured: Koons with another one of his sculptures
The sculpture, which stands a little over one metre (three feet) high, depicts a little boy offering a bouquet of flowers to a young girl. A copy of the work sold for $8 million in 2008.
The court ruled that the sculpture was a copy of Bouret’s photograph ‘Enfants’ which was published in 1975 in the form of a postcard, and depicted two naked children in an identical pose.
In 2018 a Paris court said he had copied a 1980s advertisement for clothing chain Naf Naf for his 1988 ‘Fait d’Hiver’ – also part of the Banality Series – which shows a pig standing over a woman lying on her back.