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An Australian artist was “clearly influenced” by New York artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in a major prize-winning work, according to the National Portrait Gallery, after accusing him of winning the $20,000 prize by “imitating” a piece by Nicholas Harding.
The National Portrait Gallery has declined to comment on the similarities between Basquiat’s 1982 work, Untitled (Two Heads on Gold), and Lennox Head artist Jane Allan’s Weight of the Mind’s Periapt.
Allan’s painting was the last in Darling’s 2022 top prize, and won the Art Handler awardworth $2,000.
Questions were raised about the piece in light of Allan’s winning of the $20,000 Gold Coast-based Doyles prize last year, which was similar to a painting by renowned Australian artist Nicholas Harding.
Basquiat’s piece shows two robot-like figures side by side. The figure on the right has curly hair, a T-shaped nose, white highlights and curled arms. The other person appears to be angry, in a zombie-like form. The drawing has been defined by the location of the artist as “a vivid, layered piece” in which Basquiat “(methods) raw energy in two faces that seem to join and oppose each other, expressing a sense of duality”.
Allan’s painting shows a very similar and detailed image to Basquiat’s work, with similar white faces and folded hands. To the left of his picture are words, names, numbers and small pictures of animals.
Allan’s memoirs described the work as a portrait of “a great inspirational supporter, Warren” who took care of her “when a car crashed into me which hurt my back and robbed me of my freedom”.
The Guardian could not reach Allan for comment.
A spokesman for the National Portrait Gallery admitted that, at the time the prize was awarded, art curators “observed that the artist was attracted to Jean-Michel Basquiat”.
“Although the gallery regularly highlights its awards, it always requires artists to state that they are presenting original artwork,” the spokesperson said.
The Guardian has approached Basquiat’s estate for comment.
Basquiat was a neo-expressionist artist whose works explored issues of humanity, sexuality, poverty, race and power. He died in 1988.
Predictions are taken very seriously
Nearly a year after Allan won the Doyles award in the landscape painting category for his work Seaside Explorers, the award committee said in a statement last week that it appeared to be “an imitation” of Harding’s Two Estuary Figures.
Both paintings show two figures on the beach, one bent as if to pick up something, the other turned with their hands to their faces. They are works in the impasto style – characterized by thick paint – and the brush strokes or palettes in each painting seem to follow the same pattern.
While Harding’s work is very small at 20 x 25cm, Allan’s painting is much larger – 120 x 90cm.
“We did not expect to threaten our artistic community,” said the award’s organizers Facebook post on Friday.
“It seems like one of the most successful works of the past years is an imitation of Nicholas Harding’s art.
“We don’t know why this has just started, but we are grateful to our community for having our backs (again).”
The Doyles committee also said: “There are questions about how this happened, that no one saw for a year or more.”
The commission, which is voluntary, “took this very seriously” and should explore ways to make the sentencing more robust, he said.
Gold Coast councilor Glenn Tozer he told ABC that the award committee had contacted Allan and the lawyers were discussing how to get the money back.
Harding, a six-time Wynne Prize winner and Archibald Prize winner, is known for his use of impasto and his unique style. He died in 2022.
In him blurb for Seaside ExplorersAllan wrote: “Like many Australians, I have fond memories of summer holidays at the beach when I was a child.
At that time, the director of the award he explained Allan’s art is “artfully beautiful, mature and confident in its approach, with light drama and a controlled palette”.
