The Morrisseau Forgery Case of 2023 and the Ghosts of the Great Canadian Art Fraud Case of 1963

Norval Morrisseau,1987. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chuck Stoody

What goes around comes around. Once again, the opportunity for financial gain has been an irresistible temptation.

Yesterday the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) announced arrests and charges of eight individuals allegedly responsible for the fraudulent production and sale of a very large number of works of art (more than a thousand!) attributed to the famous Canadian Anishinaabe artist Norval Morrisseau.

The parallels between this case and the “Great Canadian Art Fraud Case” of 1963 are striking…. dogged work over several years by the OPP inspectors, in-depth and patient inquiry and a mystery unravelled.

We will follow the trial with great interest.

Watch the report from CBC’s The National, Friday March 3, 2023.