Two years ago, a explosive report revealed that the eminent French sculptor Claude Lévêque, who represented France at the Venice Biennale in 2009, was under investigation for allegedly abused minors four decades earlier. The entertainer, who has denied the charges, avoided facing charges in part because so much time had passed since the incidents allegedly took place.
But now other accusers have claimed the 70-year-old sculptor also sexually assaulted them.
Last March, a court in the Paris suburb of Bobigny indicted Lévêque for allegedly raping and sexually assaulting two brothers as teenagers, according to the French newspaper The world, who first reported the story.
Lévêque is currently prohibited from leaving the country and engaging in a relationship with any of his 10 alleged victims. The artist asked the magistrates to lift the ban, the art diary reported.
The brothers, who have been identified only as YR and NR to protect their anonymity, are behind the new allegations. Both knew Lévêque from an early age.
During an interview with investigators last November, the younger of the two, YR, claimed that Lévêque sexually assaulted him from 1997 to 2000, when he was between 13 and 16 years old. artist, and that at one point, Lévêque tried to perform oral sex on her.
YR spoke of a pattern of behavior that echoed the stories of other alleged victims about Lévêque. “His way of doing things is done very gradually, each time seemingly innocuous, and each time more affectionate, based on trust and friendship,” YR is said to have said in his testimony. “Little by little, he pushes the limits of everyone’s privacy.”
NR, who spoke to investigators in January, said he was abused by Lévêque between 1989 and 1997. He claimed to have been raped several times during this period, the first time in the Paris apartment of the artist when he was 10 or 11 years old. Lévêque also touched him inappropriately during a James Turrell setup in 1995, NR said.
Neither Lévêque nor his lawyer, Patrick Klugman, responded to requests for comment on the indictment or the allegations by YR and NR.
An installation by French artist Claude Leveque at the Louvre Pyramid in Paris. Photo: FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP via Getty Images.
Lévêque was once considered one of the most successful French artists. Known for his neon installations, the sculptor has mounted high profile exhibitions and installations at the Elysées presidential palace, the Louvre and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Geneva, among other renowned institutions.
But his career took a turn in 2021 when The world report detailed numerous accusations of abuse made against the artist by younger men. A Swiss museum has withdrawn the artist’s work and his gallery, Kamel Mennour, has “suspended” its relationship with him pending the investigation. (A representative for Mennour did not respond to a query whether the gallery has continued to work with Lévêque since.)
Bobigny police opened an investigation into the case in 2019, when a sculptor named Laurent Faulon made allegations that Lévêque sexually assaulted him and his brothers in the late 1970s and 80s. By the time Faulon spoke out, however, the statute of limitations for such crimes had run out.
Through his lawyer at the time, Emmanuel Pierrat, Lévêque denied the allegations.
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