(Click on the image to see the WSJ Video on Thierry Ehrmann’s compound.)

The Wall Street Journal zeroes in on Artprice founder Thierry Ehrmann’s battle with his neighbors in a small town near Lyon, France:

Once every two years, Mr. Ehrmann, who is 50, organizes a festival, during which artists display new works and hold happenings. In July 2011, a naked man covered with wheat flour and wearing a zombielike mask was seen standing on the outer wall, according to Mr. Perrodon. […]

Villagers hoped Mr. Ehrmann would pull the plug on his museum in December 2009, when a French court ordered him to restore the place to its original look. […] Having lost his case in France, Mr. Ehrmann has turned to the European Court of Human Rights, saying he is a victim of censorship. After a first complaint was rejected, he filed a new one late last year. An official at the European court said the latest filing is being examined.

Mr. Ehrmann says accusations that he runs a sect are “ridiculous,” and that except for a few annoyed neighbors, he has good relations with people in the village. […]

When he settled in St.-Romain-au-Mont-d’Or, in 1990, Mr. Ehrmann was known as an entrepreneur. Three years earlier, he had founded Artprice, PRC.FR +5.15% a database that helps clients determine the price of art pieces. His company was much publicized in 1999 when Bernard Arnault, chairman of the luxury goods giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, MC.FR +0.27% bought an interest of about 20% in Artprice. (Mr. Arnault has since sold the stake, a spokesman for LVMH says.)

 

French Artist Thrives on Chaos, Neighbors Are Less Enthralled (WSJ)