Ethe art scene was gripped by a whiff of panic. It is a creator’s crown, of which a craftsman claims a few points for himself. A slave revolt threatens conceptual art. Enter Hitler and the Pope: Who created them? A globally idolized genius and the increase in value on the art market – including museums and galleries – are accused. The process was initiated by an 80-year-old unrecognized portraitist, for whom the powerful of the world are models: Daniel Druet. He fabricates the wax figures of the Musée Grévin in Paris. Because he was so brilliant at portraying John Paul II walking with a cane, the Perrotin Gallery hired him as the executive of the conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan. On his behalf, Druet created the figure of the pope struck down by a meteorite for Cattelan’s legendary installation “La Nona Ora”.
The figure of the kneeling Hitler in Cattelan’s “Him” also owes its formation to the magical hands of Monsieur Druet. “Him” was auctioned at Christie’s in New York in 2016 for $17.2 million with premium; the fee for the manufacturer was once 15,000 euros, including material. The shock was great when the newspaper “Le Monde” reported on May 1st about Druet’s lawsuit against Cattelan, his gallery owner Perrotin and the Parisian museum La Monnaie, which had dedicated the most comprehensive retrospective in Europe to date to the Italian living in New York.
The one with the idea: Maurizio Cattelan, 2019
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Image: AFP
Just one link in the production chain?
Druet is now demanding $5.25 million in damages. But money is only one aspect. Daniel Druet longs for artistic recognition. The article was a veritable revelation. Up until then, nobody but those affected had any idea of the process. A few days ago, the hearing before the tribunal judiciaire in Paris then took place: Cattelan had not even appeared, for once the plaintiff was in the public eye. Druet wants to be recognized as the author of eight Cattelan wax figures. His lawyer pleaded that he had “breathed life into the matter”. Perrotin’s lawyer, Pierre-Olivier Sur, countered that it was exactly the opposite: “Without Cattelan, Druet’s sculptures are worthless.” The wax figure maker was paid appropriately.
The verdict will be announced on July 8th. The panic continues because this is a precedent that could lead to many lawsuits. Immediately after the hearing, a hundred museum directors, artists, art historians and gallery owners published an appeal. They underlined Cattelan’s claim to creation with the principles of conceptual art: the idea is crucial. The avant-garde is once again put on trial by philistines – wax figure cabinet level – and reactionary supporters of “classical sculpture”. They phrased it a little more elegantly and with jargon, but meant the same thing as star lawyer Sur. He described Druet as a “link in the production chain”: “interchangeable” at will.
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