On Friday, the Ontario Provincial Police, joined by the Thunder Bay Police Service, announced they had arrested eight people in conjunction with an investigation into “the apparent fraudulent manufacturing and distribution of artwork purported to be that of Norval Morrisseau.”
The investigation also resulted in the seizure of more than 1,000 paintings, prints, and artworks, police said. “Some of these paintings sold for tens of thousands of dollars to unsuspecting members of the public who had no reason to believe they weren’t genuine,” a press release states.
Morrisseau, who was born in 1931 and raised on the Sand Point reserve (now Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek First Nation), in northwestern Ontario, was the first Indigenous artist ever to have work shown in a mainstream Canadian gallery. According to art historian Carmen Robertson, he was “the mishomis, or grandfather, of contemporary Indigenous art.” He achieved international renown, and, in 1978, was made a member of the Order of Canada and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
Rumours began to swirl about the production of fraudulent work before Morrisseau’s death in 2007. The TVO Original documentary There Are No Fakes investigates what happened after the Barenaked Ladies’ Kevin Hearn bought a painting said to be by the artist, developed suspicions about its provenance, and sued the gallery — only to find himself confronting a mystery that threatened to call into question of the authenticity of 3,000 Morrisseau paintings worth roughly $30 million.
The OPP also had advice for concerned members of the public: “If you believe you may be in possession of a suspected forgery or fraudulent work of art, it is recommended that you seek legal advice by contacting a lawyer or the Law Society of Ontario.”
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