Australian Artist Accused of Copying Work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Nicholas Harding
Australian artist Jane Allan of Lennox Head has been accused of copying works by Nicholas Harding and Jean-Michel Basquiat in paintings that received recognition in Australia. Brisbane dealer Philip Bacon alleged Allan’s Seascape Explorers—winner of the landscape category at the 2025 Doyles Art Awards, which carries a 20,000 Australian dollar prize (about $13,800)—is a “blatant copy” of Harding’s Two Estuary Figures (2011), which sold at auction in 2011 for $14,000. Organizers said the issue emerged during the 2026 Doyles Art Awards (on view through June 28) and stated they are taking the matter seriously; Jennifer Doyle called it “a disgrace,” and Harding’s son Samuel emphasized the difference between influence and imitation. Separately, the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra said Allan’s Weight of the Mind’s Periapt (2021), a 2022 Darling Portrait Prize finalist that won the Art Handlers’ Award (2,000 Australian dollars, about $1,380), was “clearly influenced” by Basquiat’s 1982 painting Untitled (Two Heads on Gold).
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This story was covered in Auction Fever, Digital Backlash, and Stolen Masterpieces