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www.artcult.com/na164.html
Report by Artcult.com, April 2001
Alexis Rudier died in 1897 and his mark is being considered as the most prestigious by specialists. His son Eugène took over his business and was in charge of casts during Rodin’s lifetime and after his death before Georges succeeded him.
Hain has been accused of having erased the Georges Rudier name to replace it by that of Alexis, a trick which enabled him to insinuate that pieces had been cast several decades ago. This means that he was producing counterfeits, the prosecutor said.
The defendant finally admitted that he had carried out such malpractice because the Rodin Museum had obtained exclusive rights on casts produced by the Georges Rudier foundry but he added that in his own mind he had the right to do so. He told the court that he had tried to approach the Musée Rodin to continue the activities of the G. Rudier foundry after the institution had switched to the Coubertin concern to produce reproductions after Rodin’s works but that his offer had been turned down.
Hain claimed that he had signed an agreement with Georges Rudier to pursue the activities of the foundry but the latter died in 1994 one year after his business went bankrupt. However Rudier confessed shortly before his death that Hain had erased his signature on some of the pieces he had cast.
Hain has been basing his defence on the fact that anyone is free to cast a sculpture after a work produced by an artist no longer protected by copyrights or moral rights. However a law voted in 1981 stipulates that any copy, overcast or any other reproduction of an original work should bear the mention “Reproduction” even if the work of an artist is no longer right protected.
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