On the floor of one of the Elysée lounges, the carpet by plastic artist Claude Lévêque, targeted by an investigation for rape and sexual assault on minors under 15, should soon be removed from the presidential palace.
This is what the Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot, said on Public Senate on Wednesday.
Targeted by an investigation for rape and sexual assault on minors under 15, the famous plastic artist Claude Lévêque sees his works gradually disappear from the public domain.
Thus, Roselyne Bachelot declared herself in favor of the fact that one of the artist's pieces, a carpet, be removed from one of the salons of the Élysée.
"I think it will most certainly be withdrawn given the emblematic aspect of the presidency of the Republic," said the Minister of Culture in an interview with Public Senate on Wednesday.
This is the carpet entitled
Soleil noir
, produced in 2007.
On the political channel, Roselyne Bachelot said she was open to the debate on the questioning of works by artists targeted by investigations of this type.
"I am for that we ask the question," she said.
"Moreover, a certain number of people have already done so, or communities like Montreuil, which are preparing to withdraw the works of Claude Lévêque. For my part, I would like the question to be asked in public places", said the minister about this very lively debate on "cancel culture".
Survey opened in spring 2019
In a survey published in early January by
Le Monde
, the sculptor Laurent Foulon recounts having been raped by the plastic surgeon from the age of 10 and until he was 17, in the mid-1980s. He reported these actions in a letter addressed to the prosecutor of Bobigny in February 2019. The investigation was opened in spring 2019 and entrusted to the Territorial Security of Seine-Saint-Denis, where the artist now resides, aged 67.
The evening daily indicates that "justice has received another report concerning Claude Lévêque" and adds to have collected other testimonies which "describe disturbing behavior with young boys".