Morrisseau art forgeries ringleader gets five years Indigenous painter’s legacy ‘irrevocably damaged’: judge By: Ben Waldman Posted: 5:28 PM CDT Thursday, Sep. 5, 2024

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For orchestrating what is considered the largest art forgery ring in Canadian history, Ontario’s David Voss has been sentenced to spend five years in a federal penitentiary.

In June, Voss, 52, pleaded guilty for his principal role in producing and introducing into the market at least 1,612 fraudulent artworks falsely attributed to Norval Morrisseau, the influential late Anishinaabe painter, considered one of the finest visual artists in modern Canadian history.

Morrisseau, born in 1931, grew up near Lake Nipigon, Ont., surviving residential school before achieving national renown and celebrity in the 1960s for his bold, colourful and personal paintings.

A member of the Order of Canada, Morrisseau died in 2007, by which point the value of his output and his reputation had already been affected by predatory forgery operations.

From 1996 to 2019, Voss’s ring was based in Thunder Bay, but the impact of the operations — estimated by Morrisseau’s estate to have led directly to at least $100 million in losses — spread across the Canadian art world, the Ontario Superior Court heard on Thursday.

“In this case, the damage is profound. This is more than just an art fraud. It’s an appropriation of a cultural and spiritual identity of one of Canada’s most loved and valued artists,” Justice Bonnie Warkentin said in her remarks.

“This is more than just an art fraud. It’s an appropriation of a cultural and spiritual identity of one of Canada’s most loved and valued artists.”–Justice Bonnie Warkentin

“The purpose of the creation of these fake paintings was to gain an economic benefit, but in the course of creating and selling these fakes, the legacy of Norval Morrisseau has been irrevocably damaged. His spirituality has been undermined and tarnished. Today we have one small opportunity to address this wrong,” she said later in the proceedings.

Several examples of fake Morrisseau works were present in the Thunder Bay courtroom where the sentence was handed down.

When people look at those paintings, the Crown’s representatives said, they will try to interpret what Morrisseau was trying to say.

“But they will be wrong, because he did not paint them,” said the Crown’s Joseph Heller, who described Voss’s actions as appropriating, exploiting and distorting First Nations’ culture and identity.

“These stories do not belong to Mr. Voss.”

Cory Dingle, CEO of the Norval Morrisseau Estate Ltd., spoke for 20 minutes describing the “unimaginable impact of one of the largest art fraud cases in human history.”

“This crime has not only left an indemnible (sic) mark on the legacy of one of Canada’s greatest artists, it has also cast a dark shadow over our nation, our people and our global art community,” said Dingle.

“The emotional anguish endured by Norval, confined to a wheelchair with Parkinson’s disease, witnessing the theft of his legacy and the perversion of his cultural teaching is a tragedy beyond words.”

Dingle added that while the Voss case has been called the most significant instance of art fraud in Canadian history, it could also be considered the “largest cultural appropriation event in modern history.”

“This crime perpetrated by a non-Indigenous individual has not only stolen the cultural and artistic identity of Indigenous communities, but also has perverted the legends and stories of the peoples.”

“This crime perpetrated by a non-Indigenous individual has not only stolen the cultural and artistic identity of Indigenous communities, but also has perverted the legends and stories of the peoples.”–Cory Dingle

Several other affected parties shared victim impact statements with the court, generally describing their subsequent distrust of artistic institutions, their resultant financial shortfalls and their sympathy for the artist and his family.

Kevin Hearn, an avid art collector and member of the Canadian alt-rock band Barenaked Ladies, read his statement over Zoom, recalling how, when he purchased a piece called Spirit Energy of Mother Earth, the art dealer told him how fortunate he was to buy it for only $20,000.

“I was anything but lucky to buy it,” said Hearn, who upon loaning the work to the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2010 was informed that his Morrisseau was a fake, one of at least 1,612 so far to be classified as part of Voss’s ring.

“(Voss’s) calculated fraud has not only stolen and mutilated Norval’s identity as expressed in his artistic vision and work, Voss has also exploited both the art world and Indigenous culture, perpetuating colonialist practices by misappropriating and commercializing sacred traditions and stories.

“These actions hurt us all.”

“Voss has also exploited both the art world and Indigenous culture, perpetuating colonialist practices by misappropriating and commercializing sacred traditions and stories.”–Kevin Hearn

The forgery scandal touched Winnipeg’s arts community in June when the Winnipeg Art Gallery was informed by Thunder Bay police that a painting in its collection — Astral Plain Scouts — was not a Morrisseau original, as thought upon donation in 2000, but a Voss fake.

At the time, WAG CEO Stephen Borys expressed sadness on behalf of the arts institutions, collectors and appreciators who engaged with those forgeries in good faith and trust, but was adamant the clearest victims were Morrisseau and his family.

Dingle echoed that sentiment in his statement Thursday morning.

“There are 1,000 past victims, but this crime is going to produce many, many more until we can remove all fraudulent paintings off the market,” he said, emphasizing the need to help Morrisseau’s family and estate to navigate the outcomes of Voss’s sentencing. “This will take new laws, large financial commitments, and time. This is a Canadian problem now.”

ben.waldman@winnipegfreepress.com

Ben Waldman
Reporter

Ben Waldman is a National Newspaper Award-nominated reporter on the Arts & Life desk at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Ben completed three internships with the Free Press while earning his degree at Ryerson University’s (now Toronto Metropolitan University’s) School of Journalism before joining the newsroom full-time in 2019. Read more about Ben.

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