Spot the Difference

If good artists borrow but great artists steal, as the saying goes, then Japanese artist Yoshihiko Wada could be considered one of the best. A painter whose dark, moody canvases could sell for upwards of $15,000, Wada won Japan's prestigious Minister of Education Art Encouragement Prize in March. But a few weeks later, an anonymous tipster alerted government officials that several of his paintings were virtual replicas of works by an Italian artist, Alberto Sughi. When confronted by the media, the 66-year-old Wada claimed his works were an "homage" to Sughi, not theft. Sughi, however, had a different view of their...