Jeff Koons convicted of plagiarism
March 10, 2017
A Paris court ruled on Thursday that the American artist and the Centre Pompidou museum in Paris, which intended to show Koon's sculpture "Naked," must pay 20,000 euros ($21,225) in compensation to the family of the well-known photographer Jean-François Bauret, who died in 2014.
In addition to paying the heirs of the late photographer, Koons and the museum are required to pay 20,000 euros in legal fees. The artist will also have to pay an additional 4,000 euros for showing the sculpture on his website.
Bauret's work also depicts two naked children in a similar pose. It was released in 1975 and was distributed on a postcard.
Koons' statue, which is from 1988, was originally intended to be shown at the French museum for contemporary art, but was not exhibited due to damage it sustained while being transported.
One version of "Naked" was also sold in 2008 for $8 million.
Another one of Koons' sculptures was also removed from the exhibition on suspicion of plagiarism. The complaint came from the creator of an advertising campaign for the clothing company Naf-Naf. He claimed the statue of a pig lying next to a half-naked woman was taken directly from his ad.
Koons has been convicted of plagiarism several times already.
sh/eg (AFP, dpa)