A lawsuit is currently pending in the French courts between the French sculptor Daniel Druet and the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan regarding the paternity of the latter’s works.
The sculptor claims exclusive authorship of 9 works and a compensation of 4 million euros.
The court will have to go into the details of the process of creation of the works, for which Mr. Cattelan claims to have given very precise instructions while Mr. Druet only followed them.
On the contrary the plaintiff considers that the creations bear the imprint of his personality, particularly in the expression of the faces of the sculptures.
The debate is as old as the art world, already the painters of the Renaissance had workshops to realize certain parts of works and only applied the final touch.
However, the decision will be awaited in the small world of contemporary art.
