String of Puppies
String of Puppies is a porcelain sculpture depicting a man and a woman sat on a bench holding eight blue puppies. The inspiration came from a photograph by Art Rogers entitled Puppies. Koons found the picture on a postcard and, when he gave it to his assistants with instructions on how to model the sculpture, he asked that as much detail be copied as possible. He requested a few changes to the original, asking for the puppies to be blue with exaggerated noses, and for flowers to be added to the hair of the man and woman. The three editions of the sculpture were sold for a total of $367,000.[5">[6">[30">
Upon discovering that his picture had been copied, Rogers sued Koons and the Sonnabend Gallery for copyright infringement. Koons admitted to having copied the image intentionally and, in 1992, the court found "substantial similarity" between the two works and that Koons acted in a "willful and egregious" manner. They rejected his parody argument and awarded a significant settlement to Rogers.[5">[30">
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