Influence or imitation? NSW artist faces fresh copying accusations

A NSW artist accused of copying a celebrated painter’s work is facing further claims of imitation, as art figures condemn her “egregious” dishonesty and lack of respect for intellectual property.

Lennox Head artist Jane Allan won last year’s The Doyles Art Award – a Gold Coast prize named in honour of late artist d’Arcy Doyle – for her piece Seaside Explorers, which she said represented herself and her brother enjoying the beach as children.

She was awarded $20,000 and the work was later sold at auction.

But art figures have accused Allan of fabricating the story after her piece was revealed to be a copy of late Australian artist Nicholas Harding’s 2011 painting Two Estuary Figures.

Prominent Brisbane-based art dealer Philip Bacon AO, who hosted Harding’s posthumous exhibition in 2022 and continues to sell his work, said the similarities were striking and went beyond artistic influence.

“Artists are always influenced by other artists … it’s not unusual for an artist to emulate other artists’ work they admire,” Bacon said.

“But what makes this pretty egregious is that it is a direct copy of another painting.

“The position of the figures, the costumes that they’re wearing, everything.

“That it depicts her brother when they were playing on the beach as kids, well, you know that’s not true.”

The committee behind The Doyle Art Award say they are reviewing processes and looking at “a range of changes to come”.

“In a time where artists are constantly having to defend themselves against their artworks getting ripped off from large faceless overseas companies, stolen from brands who don’t credit them and AI which seems to bring its own complications, never did we expect a threat from within our own art community,” a statement published last week on social media read.

“Of course there are questions around how this happened, how no one noticed for a full year and more. Of course there’s anger, it goes against everything we stand for.

“Know that we are taking this seriously and need time to work through our processes.”

Allan is now facing further claims of copying, this time for her award-winning piece Weight of the Mind’s Periapt, awarded the National Portrait Gallery’s Darling Portrait Prize in 2022.

In a blurb for the artwork, Allan said the piece depicted her primary carer, Warren, “someone truly deserving of recognition”.

“Most importantly, at 75 years young, Warren is my inspirational primary carer after a truck ran into me resulting in spinal cord injury which robbed me of my independence,” Allan wrote.

But the work bears striking similarities to neo-expressionist artist Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1982 piece Untitled (Two Heads on Gold), raising questions about whether his influence was adequately attributed.

Basquiat, a New York-born artist of colour, died of a heroin overdose in 1988 aged 27. Despite his short-lived career, he remains one of the highest-selling contemporary artists, with works sold at auction reaching the tens of millions.

A spokesperson for the National Portrait Gallery said art handlers noted Allan was “clearly influenced by Jean-Michel Basquiat” at the time of awarding her the Darling Portrait Prize, and said while they regularly review the terms and conditions of prizes, artists have always been required to declare they are submitting an original work.

Basquiat’s estate was contacted for comment.

Harding’s son, Samuel, who manages his late father’s estate, said in a statement it was disappointing to see Nicholas’s work copied and presented as another artist’s original work, and he expressed gratitude to the Doyles for addressing the matter.

“Artists of Nicholas Harding’s stature inevitably influence others. Throughout his career, there were painters who admired his work, and some who tried to emulate it,” Harding wrote.

“But influence and imitation are very different things.

“This incident is a reminder of the importance of due diligence, provenance and respect for artists’ intellectual property.”