World class artist forced to prove he did NOT make a painting

[Deleted]

Source: http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-w...e-didnt-paint/

Art-law experts say they can’t recall anything like the lawsuit filed over a painting its owner says was done by Peter Doig, a piece Doig denies painting.

OK, Peter Doig may have tried LSD a few times when he was growing up in Canada during the 1970s. But he knows, he said, when a painting is or isn’t his.

So when Doig — whose eerie, magical landscapes have made him one of the world’s most popular artists — was sent a photograph of a canvas he said he didn’t recognize, he disavowed it.

“I said, ‘Nice painting,’ ” he recalled in an interview. “ ‘Not by me.’ ”

The owner, however, disagreed and sued him, setting up one of the stranger art-authentication cases in recent history.

The owner, a former corrections officer who said he knew Doig while working in a Canadian detention facility, said the famous painter created the work as a youthful inmate there. His suit contends that Doig is either confused or lying and that his denials blew up a plan to sell the work for millions of dollars.
...
The stakes are high. A Doig painting has sold for more than $25 million. Other works have routinely sold at auction for $10 million. The plaintiffs, who include the correction officer and the art dealer who agreed to help him sell the work, are suing the painter for at least $5 million in damages and want the court to declare it authentic.
...
Doig, 57, has compelling evidence he was never near the facility, the Thunder Bay Correctional Center, about 15 hours northwest of Toronto.

“This case is a scam, and I’m being forced to jump through hoops to prove my whereabouts over 40 years ago,” he said.

To Doig’s surprise — and the astonishment of others in the art world — a federal judge in Chicago has set the case for trial next month in U.S. District Court.

Art-law experts say they can’t recall anything like it, certainly not for a major artist like Doig.

“To have to disprove that you created a work seems somehow wrong and not fair,” said Amy Adler, a professor at New York University Law School.
...
But even if Fletcher wins in court, the victory could prove hollow. With the artist himself and the dealer representing him saying it’s not a Doig, the art market is unlikely to assign the painting much value, art experts said.

EDIT:

For comparison here is a real Peter Doig desert painting ("Grasshopper", 1990, Oil on Canvas):

[Independent voter]

Why is this even being allowed to move forward?

Anytime millions of dollars are involved, someone is going to get sued.

[dextersmith]

What would the artist have to gain by lying? Wouldn't the owner have to prove authenticity instead of the artist proving forgery? Why is the artist guilty before innocent?

[sheggaro]

Seems legit.

[Deleted]

Well that judge better be getting something out of letting the case go through or he'll end up with just getting his mental state questioned.

[Sunseeker]

A quick google search will show you what Peter Doig's art looks like, and it looks absolutely nothing like this.

[Deleted]

Sounds like the tale of Picasso, one man ask Picasso if the painting he bought was a real Picasso, Picasso who dislike the man who only like the painting becuse of its monetary value, he "remember" the painting, it must have been the day he painted fake Picasso paintings and so he say no....

Probably not a true tale, but I can understand that a artists want to ridicule peopel who only like his signature and not his art.

[Dread Pirate Phayde]

What a ridiculous lawsuit, I hope it gets dismissed quickly since it should never have even made it there.

[Polyxo]

Yeah, that really looks nothing like anything Peter Doig has ever painted...

[Video Games]

Maybe he just got drunk and high and painted it. Ya know, the ol' gettin'-high-and-painting-a-million-dollar-piece trick.

[Symphonic]

How are there 5 million dollars worth of damages?

[WskyDK]

How are there 5 million dollars worth of damages?

hey're likely basing the assumed value on other Doig's that have sold.

edit: To be more clear; In (real) Doig announcing that the work isn't his, the value of it is $0 whether it's his or not.
The plaintiff knows that the work is now completely worthless even if it's authentic, so he's basing damages on what he thinks he could have gotten for it.

[IIamaKing]

Wish I had enough money and lack of sense to throw a life times worth of money at some cloth and pigment.

[muto]

I'll take credit for him. I could use a couple million.