Bags, starring Léa Seydoux and works by Joan Mitchell: this, in short, is Louis Vuitton’s latest advertising campaign. Except that it does not pass at all with the Joan-Mitchell Foundation, which manages the rights of the American artist. She asked Louis Vuitton to stop using her artwork in advertisements for luxury bags, saying she was “very disappointed” in the brand’s “contempt”. Contacted by AFP, the LVMH group, world number one in luxury and owner of Louis Vuitton, did not comment.
According to the Joan-Mitchell Foundation (JMF), the French trunk maker “illegally reproduces and uses at least three works” by the artist (1925-1992), despite the foundation’s repeated refusal, in a new “print and digital advertising campaign for bags, starring Léa Seydoux. In a statement on her site dated Tuesday, she threatens the brand to take “legal action” if it does not back down from the campaign.
The three works in question are currently hanging at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, in an exhibition that brings together Joan Mitchell, a figure in the movement of American abstract expressionism, and the impressionist Claude Monet (1840-1926). But for the Joan-Mitchell Foundation, “by allowing these works to be photographed for this (advertising) purpose and in this manner”, the Louis-Vuitton Foundation has “violated its commitments”.
The organization that manages the work and legacy of the American painter claims to have “refused […] in writing” Louis Vuitton’s request, “in accordance with its long-standing policy that images of the artist’s works should only be used for educational purposes”. “The JMF is very disappointed that Louis Vuitton shows such disregard for the rights of an artist and exploits her work for financial gain,” she adds.
