The Belgian painter Christian Silvain (72) from Kluisbergen won a historic plagiarism case in China. A court in Beijing has ordered artist Ye Yongqing to pay 650,000 euros in damages for copying Silvain’s work for 30 years.
Maarten RabaeySeptember 1, 2023, 6:30 PM
Ye Yongqing discovered the work of the Belgian artist at an exhibition in Paris at the end of the last century. He bought a catalog there and started copying it: up to 120 of Silvain’s paintings were even completely plagiarized. It wasn’t until early 2019 that Ye fell off his pedestal. His work is now worth nothing. Silvain’s art, on the other hand, is finally getting the attention it deserves in China.
How does it feel to have justice today?
“The four years that this case dragged on, I thought nothing would ever come of it. I’ve been through a lot of stress, but the lawyers have always encouraged me that we would succeed. I am pleased that the result is a first for China. It has never happened that they condemn a Chinese artist for plagiarizing a foreign artist. So our lawsuit is making history.”
Does your case set a legal precedent for other artists?
“Certainly. The verdict is even written in such a way that it can be used as a precedent. I also think that China wants to polish its image in this way. They have an image of people who copy and imitate everything. Now they show that that is not true in the art world – or at least that they want that time to be over.”
The state newspaper China Daily calculated that Ye Yongqing’s plagiarism brought in nearly $15 million at the time. Now he has been sentenced to pay you ‘only’ 650,000 euros. Is that enough compared to the big profits he made from your ideas?
“I suspect those wins weren’t for him alone. An artist cannot reach such large sums if he stands alone. There were some people behind him who also benefited. You can say that it is not much in comparison, but still: in China this is the highest amount ever paid in such a case.”
What will you do with the compensation?
“The money will be used to pay all my employees and lawyers. I have two lawyers in China and two in the US. There are also people who have advanced money to litigate, because anyone who starts a lawsuit in China must first pay high amounts. Then I also have three collaborators, two in Europe and one Chinese, who have worked for three years on this file, which still has a few thousand pages. So the money goes to all these people. I have no use for it and I don’t want any of it. ”
Is there suddenly more interest in your art and yourself in China?
“I don’t sell myself. I have an agent in Belgium and an agent in China who arrange this, but I do know that there are already authentic works in circulation in China. The market for me had come to a standstill because everyone was waiting for the process to end. They didn’t want to buy anymore. Now that’s fine. There are several museums that let me know four years ago that they want to do an exhibition if the outcome is positive. There are apparently also investors who have already bought quite a lot of works four years ago, probably awaiting the outcome of this process. People expect that afterwards the prices for my works will swing out of control, although that was not my point.”
What message would you like the Chinese to remember from your original work?
“I hope that the Chinese will look at my work with as much love as the people here. I know the rest is commercial and there will be a lot of speculation, but I really don’t care. In that respect I take an example from the late painter and my friend Paul Delvaux, a bit like my spiritual father. I often react like him. That money doesn’t change anything for me. Tomorrow morning I’ll just sit at my easel again. Paul had that attitude too. His walls sometimes had paintings he found on the rubbish dump because he liked them. His own works were sold for 30 million Belgian francs, but he thought that was so silly. It will be exactly the same for me.”
Did you get reactions from Chinese artists?
“Yes, I have received a lot of support from many artists from China. That Mr. Yongqing was also a teacher at the High School of Art. All those people there reacted terribly shocked. Two years ago we received up to a hundred e-mails of sympathy per day.”
Are you going to China yourself soon?
“If there are major exhibitions, I will have to go to China, unfortunately. Too bad, not because I don’t think it’s a beautiful country, but because I’m afraid of flying. (laughs) I don’t want to think about it yet. I keep painting every day, rain or shine.”
Read also
2023-09-01 16:30:42
#Chinese #artist #copied #work #painter #Kluisbergen #years #failed
