France's most prestigious art school has been accused of censorship after a work by a Chinese artist satirizing a campaign slogan by French President Nicolas Sarkozy was taken down.

The Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris took down two seven-metre banners created by Ko Siu Lan.Nicolas Sarkozy, pictured here in May 2007 after taking office as France's president, used the slogan 'Work more, earn more' in his campaign. (Thomas Coex/Associated Press)

The banners — with the words on each side "gagner," "moins," "travailler," "plus" ("earn," "less," "work" and "more") — are a play on Sarkozy's 2007 slogan "Work more to earn more."

The School issued a statement this week saying the work had been removed because it violated "public service neutrality" due to its overtly political message.

"I come from China and we know what to expect there but I would not have expected this kind of brutal censorship in France," Ko, 32, told The Guardian newspaper. The artist had spent two years in Paris before returning to Beijing to continue her work.

Beaux-Arts directors lack 'moral courage'

She told France 24 that she was deeply disappointed in the decision, which she alleges is tied to the fact the college is about to renew a funding deal with the French Ministry of Education.

"The directors [of the school] are lacking in moral courage and I don't even think even they know what they are doing. This is an almost fascist control of art."

Clare Carolin, a teacher at the Royal College of Art in London, who worked on the project, also accused the school of censorship for taking down the banners mere hours after they were put up this week.

The exhibit was a collaborative affair between the London art school, the Beaux-Arts and Singapore's Lasalle College of the Arts.

The college offered to show Ko's work indoors as part of the larger exhibition.

"It would ruin the integrity of my art and render it meaningless," she said. "If they put it inside they will destroy it."