MThe police in the Canadian province of Ontario did not spare superlatives when they presented the success of their search: They uncovered “one of the biggest cases of art fraud of all time”. Officials arrested eight suspected fraudsters who are said to have stolen more than 100 million Canadian dollars with at least a thousand counterfeits. Above all, private individuals are said to have bought alleged works by the indigenous painter Norval Morrisseau, who died in 2007 and was known as the Copper Thunderbird. The forgeries are said to have been made by minors under exploitative conditions. A nephew of Morrisseuaus is also among the suspects.
Morrisseau, born in 1932, was famous for his colorful paintings in the Woodlands style, a school of indigenous art from the Great Lakes region that he founded. Most Woodlands artists, like Morrisseau, belong to the Anishinaabe. In the 1950s, the painter began researching the oral history of his ancestors. This inspired his art, which often incorporated traditional motifs.
Marc Chagall called Morrisseau a “Picasso of the North”. The National Gallery of Canada dedicated a solo exhibition to him in 2006, becoming the first First Nations artist to do so. Like many other Aborigines, Morrisseau was a survivor of “residential schools” designed to “re-educate” Indigenous children under government auspices. The USA and Canada have only been dealing with the systematic abuse and thousands of unexplained deaths at these schools for a few years.
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Eight Arrests: Investigations into Counterfeit Norval Morrisseau Artwork
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Video: Global News, Image: AFP
The documentary “There Are No Fakes” is said to have provided police with clues in the investigation of the Morrisseau legacy fraud scandal. As early as 2019, the musician Kevin Hearn described to the director Jamie Kastner how he paid 20,000 Canadian dollars for an alleged picture of Morrisseau and thus came across the scams. The documentary features a man who says he painted in the famous artist’s style to get money for drugs. Another accuses the alleged leader of the gang of multiple rapes.
The trade in counterfeit works by indigenous artists is a global business. On the Internet, numerous websites offer fake Aboriginal art – or T-shirts printed with symbols from traditional art – without the consent or involvement of the creators. Canadian Senator Patricia Bovey is now calling for tougher laws. In Canada, art fraud comes “right after the drug and arms trade,” said the politician.