The history of a great deal of twentieth century art could be told as a history of theft. Warhol stole his image of Marilyn from a publicity photograph in the early 1960s. David Hammons commandeered Richard Serra’s TWU (1980) sculpture as urinal in 1981. The practice of appropriation is fun, endless, and, as French poet Lautréamont once argued, essential: “Plagiarism is necessary, progress implies it.”

Armand Bartos Fine Art’s latest show is focused on celebrating that history of the rip-off, showing art works next to the pieces from which artists brazenly stole their ideas. Richard Prince sits next to Willem de Kooning, Vik Muniz is juxtaposed with Gary Winogrand, and arch-purloiner Sturtevant is paired with Andy Warhol.

On Sept. 23, friends, family, and curious onlookers flocked to the gallery to take a look. Among those present were Nancy Portnoy, Ezra Chowaiki, Lawrence Benenson, Karen Gunderson, Diane Ackerman, Kate Krone, Jay Bauer, Jill and Sandy Spalding, and artist Adam Ames with his wife, gallerist Sara Meltzer.

View the photo gallery above to see who else attended the opening.