Peter Doig ‘absolutely did not paint’ Canadian-owned work, judge rules
A painting at the centre of a strange multimillion-dollar civil lawsuit filed by a former Canadian correctional officer who owns the canvas was not the work of famed artist Peter Doig, a Chicago judge ruled Tuesday.
In his decision, U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman said the evidence showed that Doig, whose paintings have sold for more than $20 million, was not in a prison in Thunder Bay, Ont., when the desert landscape was painted in 1976 and sold to the guard.
“Peter Doig could not have been the author of the work,” Feinerman said in his decision, calling it a case of mistaken identity.
The unprecedented battle, closely watched by the art world, involved a claim by Robert (Bob) Fletcher, of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., who claimed Doig painted the canvas, once valued at more than $10 million.