It’s Grovel, Grovel Time at Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton has apologized to Anthon Beeke, after a nude alphabet featuring the luxury label’s name made by Vanessa Beecroft turned out to be a gross copyright infringement of the work of the Dutch artist.

“This alphabet is an unauthorized copy of the “Naked Ladies Alphabet” created in 1970 by the Dutch graphic artist, Anton Beeke,” Vuitton said in a letter it mailed out late last week.

“Louis Vuitton… deeply regrets any damage that has been caused to Anthon Beeke,” the label said in the statement, adding that, “Vanessa Beecroft states that it was never her intention to create confusion between Mr. Beeke’s works and hers and apologizes for any misunderstandings which may have occurred.”

The admission by Vuitton, the world’s most profitable prestige brand, comes six months after a Paris court ruled that John Galliano - like Vuitton controlled by the giant French luxury conglomerate LVMH - had “copied” the work of photographer William Klein in a fashion ad campaign.

Sources at Vuitton stressed that the company did not pay any damages to Beeke; Galliano was ordered to pay a fine of 200,000 Euros, or 275,000 US dollars at the time, to Klein.

Vuitton executives declined any other comment, and the word in Paris is that the company is very unhappy with Beecroft, who they blame for this uncomfortable predicament.

Vuitton’s apology is more than a tad ironic given that the LV itself is well known for aggressively pursuing legal action against counterfeiters. Moreover, LVMH’s controlling shareholder is the legendarily litigious Bernard Arnault, who himself gained control of Vuitton after a bruising court battle with the descendents of the founder.

The French luxury label stressed that it had stopped all further use of the naked alphabet, and in particular the book VBLV, which was published in September by Edizioni Charta. The Beecroft alphabet features images of nudes spelling out the Louis Vuitton name and the LV logo.

Last year, the nudie human lettering was prominently displayed in the art space atop Vuitton’s giant flagship Champs Elysees store when the label opened its largest emporium. Beecroft told reporters at the event that she had been inspired by images in a magazine found in a thrift shop.

The news is sure to raise hackles in the artistic community, doubly so given Vuitton’s long history of turning links to fine artists into highly commercial product. Most notably, Japan’s Andy Warhol, Takashi Murakami, created the immensely successful multi-colored monogram bags and was the man behind the 2003 cherry blossom logo for Vuitton; while the house’s creative director Marc Jacobs teamed up with Richard Prince in the spring 2008 smut chic “after dark” collection presented just last month in Paris.

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