JUDGE: PAINTING NOT DOIG’S WORK OF ART
The artist of a landscape painting at the center of federal trial in Chicago was not famed Peter Doig, U. S. District Court Judge Gary Feinerman ruled Tuesday.
The case drew international attention as it asked the question: if an artist says he or she didn’t paint the artwork, does that mean they should be believed?
In this case, Feinerman says, yes. But that wasn’t enough for Doig, who still criticized the fact that he was taken to court for not being believed.
“I have rarely seen such a flagrant example of unethical conduct in the U. S. courts nor a case that inflicted such needless burdens on a defendant. Artists should be grateful to Peter for having the ethical and financial fortitude to fight tirelessly to ensure that justice prevailed in today’s verdict,” Matthew Dontzin, Doig’s attorney, said in a statement released after the ruling.
Neither the lawyer nor Doig were in the courtroom but were on a muted speakerphone.
The painting had been valued at more than $ 10 million when it was believed to be the work of Doig.
Feinerman’s ruling also drew the ire of retired Ontario corrections officer Robert Fletcher, who says he still believes it was Doig who gave him the painting some 40 years ago, not the late Pete Doige, who was an inmate at the facility where Fletcher worked.
The Chicago art dealer whom Fletcher hired to sell the painting also spouted off after Tuesday’s ruling. “No one should be allowed to lie,” Peter Bartlow, of Chicagobased Bartlow Gallery Ltd., said, referring to Doig.
In his ruling from the bench, Feinerman went through evidence that showed Doig was a high school teen at the time the artwork was painted at a Canadian correctional facility. And he also attributed his ruling to evidence showing the late Doige was incarcerated at the time the painting was produced.
The case has been in the courts since 2013, and many in the art world have been surprised to see it go this far. The judge says there were enough facts on each side to allow the case to go to trial.
Doig testified, and so did his mother, Mary. His defense team presented yearbook pictures of a shaggy- haired Doig as a high school student in the 1970s. But it was letters written by Doig’s mom that were especially persuasive, the judge said. The letters talked about her son’s activities during the time period in question.
“Those letters are unimpeachable. They are unvarnished reportage,” the judge said, adding Doig’s mom had no motive to lie at the time the letters were sent.
You could say this venture capitalist plays games
When job candidates and potential investors meet venture capitalist Victor Gutwein, they might find themselves playing Settlers of Catan, a board game in which players settle on the fictitious island of Catan and trade scarce resources.
“There’s a lot of skill and strategy,” says Gutwein, founder and managing director of M25 Group. “This isn’t Monopoly,” he says, where a chance landing on Park Place helps you win the game.
While getting a job at his small company isn’t contingent on winning, “You shouldn’t be too bad,” he says. “You have to make smart moves.”
Mike Asem played Settlers with Gutwein before he was hired as director of M25.
“He’s always seeing several moves ahead and what moves others will make. He consistently makes the most optimal move almost every time,” says Asem, before joining Gutwein and a group of friends for one of their now regular games.
Gutwein’s M25 invests in earlystage start- ups with a high potential to scale. The company avoids funding vice and sin- tax businesses, ones that promote drinking, smoking or gambling. “We don’t want to invest in companies that are destructive to people,” he says.
Startups backed by M25 Group include Eastman Egg Co. restaurant, Luna Lights ( helps prevent elderly from falling) and Page Vault Web archiving. M25 has just raised another $ 10 million to invest in 60 to 70 more startups.
Gutwein grew up in Indiana, where he started a vending machine business while in middle school and ran it in high school too. At the University of Chicago, where he earned an economics degree, Gutwein crafted a business that encouraged using scooters to get to classes.
The company’s name comes from Matthew: 25 in the Bible. That’s the parable of the master who rewards servants who were given bags of gold and then put that gold to work in the marketplace, doubling their money. Gutwein met his wife, Rebecca, while they served as mentors in U. of C.’ s Christian Fellowship Group, which met at Living Hope Church on the South Side. He mentored a boy, and she worked with the boy’s sister. They’ve remained active in the church since getting married two years ago.
Shia Kapos’ Taking Names appears Monday and Wednesday. Read more from Shia Kapos at shiakapos.com.