On Thursday (5 September), David Voss—described by Crown prosecutors because the “principal architect” behind a serious forgery scheme peddling 1000’s of faux Norval Morrisseau work—was sentenced to 5 years in jail for fraud.
The sentencing follows an announcement in March of 2023 by the Ontario Provincial Police that their investigation right into a forgery ring of works by the famend Ojibwe artist—dubbed the “Picasso of the North” by Marc Chagall—had uncovered “the most important artwork fraud in world historical past”. The case resulted in expenses towards eight folks, together with a member of the late painter’s household, and the seizure of greater than 1,000 work. In June of this 12 months, Voss pleaded responsible to counts of uttering cast paperwork and forgery.
In her ruling, Justice Bonnie Warkentin famous that “the injury is profound” and the case has “worldwide significance”, including: “The legacy of Norval Morrisseau has been irrevocably broken. His spirituality has been undermined and tarnished.”
Voss’s sentencing follows a five-year sentence for an additional member of the forgery ring, Gary Lamont, who pleaded responsible to 2 expenses. Six others had been charged final 12 months. The sentencing marks a major milestone in a case that has change into a type of Canadian cultural crucible, involving not solely forgery but in addition abuse and exploitation of First Nations artists working in “paint by quantity” sweatshops, a Canadian musical icon and a documentary movie.
Morrisseau—a shapeshifting self-taught artist who based the “Woodlands Faculty” of Indigenous artwork that married First Nations and Christian cosmology and conventional native and up to date idioms—turned conscious of forgeries of his work in the marketplace within the years earlier than his demise in 2007. Nevertheless it was a 2019 documentary by the Canadian film-maker Jamie Kastner, There Are No Fakes, that introduced the problem to wider public.
The movie in flip was impressed by a lawsuit launched by Kevin Hearn—a musician within the Canadian band The Barenaked Girls—towards the Toronto-based Maslak McLeod Gallery for promoting him an alleged forgery of a Morrisseau portray. The documentary helped Hearn win a C$60,000 ($44,000) award from the Ontario Court docket of Enchantment, overturning an earlier determination in favour of the gallery citing lack of proof of forgeries.
Whereas the police stated the movie helped their investigation, Kastner fought an order to show over his footage as proof within the case; he advised The Artwork Newspaper it was “a matter of precept”, that “journalism is just not an arm of the police”. However, the Ontario Superior Court docket dominated in favour of the police final autumn.
“It’s actually incredible that the work the movie initiated continues to snowball and have actual life penalties for the people who had been perpetrating this terrible collection of crimes,” Kastner stated after Voss’s sentencing. “I feel [Morrisseau]’d be delighted with the ruling. We all know he fought the forgeries in his lifetime and was pissed off by the identical group of fraudsters now dealing with sentencing.”
The artist’s nephew, Benjamin Morrisseau, continues to be awaiting sentencing for his function within the fraud. There have been a collection of alleged Morrisseau forgeries found hanging in distinguished locations, from the Ontario legislature to the Winnipeg Artwork Gallery and McGill College, since expenses had been filed final 12 months. In line with police estimates there are nonetheless greater than 5,000 undiscovered forgeries produced by Voss’s ring in circulation.
“As of my penning this, Voss has proven neither regret nor accountability for the struggling he has prompted to me,” Hearn wrote in a sufferer influence assertion learn through the sentencing. “However I’m only one small piece of the injury he has prompted. His calculated fraud has not solely stolen and utilised Norval’s identification as expressed in his work, Voss has additionally exploited the artwork world and Indigenous tradition.”
The property of Norval Morrisseau has suffered damages estimated to be close to C$100m ($73.7m) because of the fraud, however in line with Cory Dingle, the manager director of Morisseau’s property, “Voss’s cooperation has led to the identification of roughly 1,800 work as counterfeit. This pivotal info has enabled the Morrisseau Property—with the assistance of our pro-bono authorized group at Mishcon De Reya—to safe forfeiture and restoration of those works.”
In an announcement emailed to The Artwork Newspaper, Dingle added: “Almost 500 fraudulent works have already been faraway from the market, a considerable step in curbing the unfold of those forgeries.”
He additionally urged house owners of Morrisseau work to achieve out to the dstate, noting: “Your cooperation is important in compiling an official catalogue and establishing an intensive document of counterfeit works.”
