Prominent Chicago auction-house owner testifies in Doig case

Chicago auction-house owner Leslie Hindman was the first witness today in a federal court case that’s drawing international attention.

Hindman is a notable name on the city’s civic and cultural scene as her company, Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, often runs the charity auctions in town.

But this day, she took the stand in a case that challenges whether celebrated Scottish artist Peter Doig painted a work that a collector wants to sell. Doig says he didn’t paint it.

The story began in 1975, when Robert Fletcher, an Ontario corrections officer, says he paid $100 for a Western-themed painting created by an inmate. The painting was signed by a Pete Doige and Fletcher came to believe that inmate, jailed for a drug charge, went on to become Doig, the artist whose work sells for millions of dollars. At least one Doig piece is part of the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

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