Chinese artist Ye Yongqing breaks silence over plagiarism row with Belgian Christian Silvain amid legal action threat
- Renowned painter denies claims he copied works by Belgian Christian Silvain three weeks after they were first made and says he has contacted lawyers
- Chinese art world was rocked by accusation against high-profile figures whose buyers are believed to include Bill Gates and Rupert Murdoch
The 61-year-old oil painter said in an open letter on Monday that he has engaged lawyers in Belgium to resolve the matter after Christian Silvain accused him of plagiarism.
Ye, whose buyers are said to include Bill Gates and Rupert Murdoch, denied he was a plagiarist and said he had no choice but to engage the lawyers to protect his own reputation after efforts to contact Silvain failed. Ye posted the open letter on WeChat, China’s most popular social media platform.
Silvain, a 69-year-old painter and sculptor based in East Flanders, complained to local media last month that Ye had copied several of his paintings three decades ago, and that one of these works had sold for 100 times more than the original.
He said that several of Ye’s paintings used an identical style and symbols to his works, publishing copies of his works alongside Ye’s to allow members of the public to make their own comparisons.
