Art / banksy
Council apologises for selling unauthorised Banksy prints
What was originally a profitable money-spinner for cash-strapped Bristol City Council has ended with an embarrassing apology.
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery had been sending £5 prints of Banksy’s Angel Bust around the world, but after a buyer in the USA contacted the elusive artist’s agents to find out whether the prints were genuine, he was told they were not.
Bristol Museum was selling prints of the sculpture for £5
Steve Hall told the BBC: “I sent an email to Banksy’s website to find out if the Angel Bust print sold by Bristol Museum was authorised by Banksy.
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“This was their response: ‘Absolutely not, they were printed without our permission.'”
The angel sculpture was created for the Banksy vs Bristol Museum exhibition in 2009 and was left as a thank you to the venue, where it is currently on display close to the main entrance.
A spokesman for Bristol City Council, which runs the museum and had been selling as many as 1,000 prints in a single day, said: “This was a mistake on our part. We own the artwork in question and had been granted permission to produce the image in our guide to the art gallery published last autumn.
“It was assumed that this would allow us to produce prints, however having contacted Banksy’s management we were told that this was not the case.
“As a result we have taken the decision to withdraw all prints from sale and offered full refunds to any customers.
“We have apologised to Banksy and would like to offer our apologies to any customers who felt misled by this sale.”
Main photo by Dulcie Horn / www.thatfestivallife.com
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