Artist accused of winning prize with ‘imitation’ won Australian award with piece ‘influenced’ by Basquiat

An Australian painter was “clearly influenced” by New York artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in a major prize-winning work, according to the National Portrait Gallery, after she was accused of winning a separate $20,000 prize with “an imitation” of a Nicholas Harding piece.

The National Portrait Gallery has declined to comment further on the marked similarities between a 1982 work by Basquiat, Untitled (Two Heads on Gold), and a work by Lennox Head artist Jane Allan, titled Weight of the Mind’s Periapt.

Allan’s painting was a finalist in the prestigious Darling portrait prize in 2022, and won the Art Handler’s award, worth $2,000.

Questions were raised about the piece after concerns over Allan’s winning submission to the Gold Coast-based $20,000 Doyles art award last year, which had similarities to a painting by acclaimed Australian artist Nicholas Harding.

Basquiat’s piece depicts two robot-like figures side-by-side. The figure on the right has spiky hair, a distinctive nose shaped like an upside down T, white outlined features and spindly arms. The other figure appears to be angry, in a pose that is almost zombie-like. The painting has been described by the artist’s estate as a “vibrant, layered piece” in which Basquiat “[channels] raw energy into two faces that seem to echo and challenge each other, reflecting a sense of duality”.

Allan’s painting depicts an almost identically shaped and detailed figure to the Basquiat work, with similar white outlining of features and spindly arms. The left hand side of her painting is a melange of words, names, numbers and smaller images of animals.

Allan’s artist notes described the work as a portrait of her “inspirational primary carer, Warren” who had looked after her “after a truck ran into me resulting in spinal cord injury which robbed me of my independence”.

The Guardian was unable to reach Allan for comment.

A National Portrait Gallery spokesperson acknowledged that, at the time of the prize being awarded, the gallery’s art handlers had “noted that the artist was clearly influenced by Jean-Michel Basquiat”.

“While the gallery regularly reviews the terms and conditions of its prizes, it has always required artists to declare that they are submitting an original artwork,” the spokesperson said.

The Guardian has approached the Basquiat estate for comment.

Basquiat was a neo-expressionist artist whose works explored issues of identity, sexuality, poverty, race and power. He died in 1988.

Allegation being taken ‘very seriously

Nearly a year after Allan won a Doyles award in the landscape painting category for her work Seaside Explorers, the committee behind the prize said in a statement last week that it appeared to be “an imitation” of Harding’s piece Two Estuary Figures.

Both paintings depict two figures on a beach, one bending down as if about to pick something up, the other turned away with their arms towards their face. They are impasto-style works – characterised by thickly layered paint – and the direction of the brush or palette strokes in each painting appear to follow the same patterns.

While the Harding work is very small at 20 x 25cm, the Allan painting is significantly larger – 120 × 90cm.

“Never did we expect a threat from within our own art community,” the prize administrators said in a Facebook post on Friday.

“It appears as though one of last years winning works is an imitation of a Nicholas Harding artwork.

“We have no idea why this has only emerged now, but we thank our community for once again having each others (and our) backs.”

The Doyles committee also said: “There’s 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.”

The committee, which is entirely voluntary, was “taking this seriously” and would need to investigate ways of making the judging process more robust, the statement said.

Gold Coast councillor Glenn Tozer told the ABC that the prize committee had been in contact with Allan and lawyers were discussing possible recovery of the prize money.

Harding, a nine-time Wynne prize finalist and Archibald prize winner, was known for his use of impasto and his distinctive portraiture. He died in 2022.

In her blurb for Seaside Explorers, Allan wrote: “Like so many Australians, my vivid childhood memories revolve around carefree summer holidays at the beach. Allowed to swim and explore on our own, my brother and I would fill our days, each day merging with the next. This palate knife work ‘SEASIDE EXPLORERS’ invites the viewer to reminisce about their own halcyon childhood memories in the landscapes that brought them joy.”

At the time, the prize director described Allan’s painting as “artistically beautiful, mature and confident in its approach, with excellent light play and controlled palette”.