Court Confirms Peter Doig as the True Artist in Unusual Authorship Dispute
In a surprising legal battle that stretched over a decade, Scottish artist Peter Doig was vindicated when a federal judge in Illinois ruled in his favor regarding a disputed painting he did not create. The saga, filled with unexpected twists and legal intricacies, began in 2013 when Robert Fletcher, a former corrections officer, and Chicago gallerist Peter Bartlow sued Doig over a desert landscape painting from 1976, which bore the signature “Pete Doige.”
Fletcher claimed to have purchased the painting for $100 from an inmate while working at Thunder Bay Correctional Center in Ontario, Canada, asserting he had witnessed the creation of the artwork by the inmate he believed to be Doig. Misled by a friend’s suggestion in 2011 that the piece might be the work of the renowned artist—whose paintings have sold for as much as $39 million—Fletcher and Bartlow sought to authenticate the piece, engaging a legal battle when Doig denied any connection to the artwork.
Despite evidence presented by Doig’s attorneys, who demonstrated that Doig had neither been incarcerated nor associated with the painting, the plaintiffs persisted. Crucially, they presented records showing that another individual, Peter Edward Doige, had been incarcerated and painted during that time. Peter Doige’s sister confirmed the painting’s origins, distancing Blam from the work linked to her late brother.
Ultimately, the court’s 2016 ruling determined that the painting was not by Doig but by Peter Doige, leading to Fletcher and Bartlow’s lawsuit collapsing. Persisting allegations by Bartlow failed to alter the outcome, and in July 2023, a United States Court of Appeals affirmed sanctions amounting to $2.5 million against the plaintiffs for their meritless legal pursuit.
In a display of philanthropy, Doig vowed to donate the financial award to initiatives supporting art programs for incarcerated individuals, continuing to underline his commitment to the artistic community while closing the chapter on this extraordinary legal drama.