Some art experts are cautioning that the soaring value of Maud Lewis paintings will make the Nova Scotia folk artist’s work more attractive for fraudsters to replicate.
Making Maud frauds isn’t new, with allegations dating back decades. One of the people accused of making forgeries of her work was her husband, Everett Lewis, after Maud’s death in 1970.
The Nova Scotia government even purchased what it thought were three Lewis works in 1982, which were found to be frauds four decades later. Two of those paintings were even hung in the premier’s office.
While Lewis sold her paintings for a few dollars each, her paintings now routinely sell for tens of thousands of dollars. Experts say these prices, coupled with a lack of an appetite for prosecuting art fraud in Canada, create a market ripe for fraud.
“That proliferation is always going to accelerate as prices go higher, and they certainly have been going higher,” said art fraud lawyer Jonathan Sommer of Toronto’s Sommer Law. He said art fraud accounts for almost half of his practice’s work.
He’s spent thousands of hours working on cases, most notably involving Norval Morrisseau, the renowned, late Indigenous artist.
Ian Muncaster, the owner of Zwicker’s Gallery in downtown Halifax, was hired by the Nova Scotia government last fall to determine whether its three Mauds were fakes.
He said people bring in around a dozen Lewis paintings in the run of a month. He said two or three will be frauds.
“Her style is easy to copy and the fact that she did the same image over and over again, repeatedly, it made it easier still for forgers,” said Muncaster.
He said Lewis once said she did a painting a day for around three decades, which would work out to more than 10,000 paintings.
Ian Muncaster looks at an authentic Maud Lewis painting that was sent to Zwicker’s Gallery for framing. The gallery owner says he sees two or three Lewis frauds a month. (Jon Tattrie/CBC)
Alan Deacon is called upon several times a month to authenticate Lewis’s work. He said they are authentic more than 90 per cent of the time.
Around 10 years ago, he spotted a supposed Lewis for sale on eBay from a seller in Budapest, Hungary. The person was also selling works from other notable artists, including Frida Kahlo, Stephen Lowry and Beatrix Potter.
“And I thought, ‘There’s no way that this obscure little site in Hungary would have legitimate paintings by all these people.’ It just seemed crazy,” said Deacon, who lives in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley.
It’s unclear whether the painting was produced in Hungary, Nova Scotia or somewhere else.
Alan Deacon is an expert in the art of Maud Lewis. He once spotted what he believes was a fake for sale in Hungary. (Mary-Catherine McIntosh/CBC)
“But I think when people do speak about sophisticated fakes and where they come from, I think Eastern Europe is one of the places that people do talk about, so it’s highly likely that it could have come from there,” said Deacon.
Sommer’s experience has been that there isn’t much interest in prosecuting art fraud in Canada. He said there are several reasons why, including that it’s not viewed as a serious crime.
“I like to call that the myth of the charming rogue, which is the idea that art fraudsters are these criminals who are more charming and more amusing than they are real criminals, and that the crimes that they commit are crimes committed generally against people with more money than they know what to do with and not very many brains,” he said.
Sommer said with art fraud, the victim still has a painting on their wall afterwards unlike a fraudster who steals money from somebody.
Sled is one of three Maud Lewis paintings purchased through the Nova Scotia Art Bank that turned out to be fake. (Submitted by Arts Nova Scotia)
Boat is another one of the fakes the province bought under the Nova Scotia Art Bank program. (Submitted by Arts Nova Scotia)
He said Canada doesn’t have the expertise in its police and judicial systems to deal with art fraud the way that European countries do.
Sommer said he’d like to see the RCMP have a dedicated art fraud unit that could assist police forces across the country.
In a statement, the RCMP confirmed they don’t have a national art fraud unit and are unaware of any RCMP forces having a local one.
“Any art theft would be handled by the police of jurisdiction for where the incident occurred,” it said.
Cory Dingle, the CEO of Morrisseau’s estate, said because art fraud increases the supposed supply of legitimate works, it drags down prices for prominent artists, as well as other artists.
“What is the second, third, fourth, 50th, 500th artist going to get? Nothing,” he said.
Dingle said when people buy art, they’re buying what the artist represents. For Morrisseau, he said it’s the perseverance of an individual who was a residential school survivor.
This Lewis painting sold for $350,000 at an auction in 2022. (Submitted by Miller & Miller Auctions Ltd. )
Dingle also sees perseverance in Lewis.
“Why I love Maud Lewis is because of her life, her challenges, her physical challenges,” he said.
“I would buy a Maud Lewis because it shows an endearing strength of a human being — a little, tiny creature to keep going and keep producing art.”
Dingle said Canada needs to take art fraud more seriously.
“We need the authorities, we need the government, we need the art market, we need the academics to all come together and look at other cultures that have dealt with this … and show the world that we can do better,” he said.
Norval Morrisseau as artist-in-residence in the Thomson Shack at the McMichael Gallery in Kleinberg, Ont., on July 11, 1979. Eight people were recently charged in alleged massive forgery rings of the late Indigenous artist’s work. (Ian Samson/McMichael Canadian Art Collection Archives)
Asked what advice he has for people buying art, Sommer said they should try to buy directly from living artists or the galleries they work with to ensure authenticity.
But when an artist is dead, it becomes more complicated. Sommer said people could hire an investigator or get forensic testing done, but that may not be financially feasible for them.
He said galleries could even provide a certificate of authenticity that doesn’t expire, as well as provenance, which details the ownership history of a piece of work.
“I can tell you there are plenty of very seemingly up and up art galleries all over the world that have been shown to be selling fakes of one kind or another, so just because the gallery looks great, [it] doesn’t mean that they’re not selling you a fake,” he said.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
In a case that has sent shockwaves through the Vancouver Island art community, a local art dealer has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. Calvin Lucyshyn, the former operator of the now-closed Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay, faces the charge after police seized hundreds of artworks, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, from various storage sites in the Greater Victoria area.
Alleged Fraud Scheme
Police allege that Lucyshyn had been taking valuable art from members of the public under the guise of appraising or consigning the pieces for sale, only to cut off all communication with the owners. This investigation began in April 2022, when police received a complaint from an individual who had provided four paintings to Lucyshyn, including three works by renowned British Columbia artist Emily Carr, and had not received any updates on their sale.
Further investigation by the Saanich Police Department revealed that this was not an isolated incident. Detectives found other alleged victims who had similar experiences with Winchester Galleries, leading police to execute search warrants at three separate storage locations across Greater Victoria.
Massive Seizure of Artworks
In what has become one of the largest art fraud investigations in recent Canadian history, authorities seized approximately 1,100 pieces of art, including more than 600 pieces from a storage site in Saanich, over 300 in Langford, and more than 100 in Oak Bay. Some of the more valuable pieces, according to police, were estimated to be worth $85,000 each.
Lucyshyn was arrested on April 21, 2022, but was later released from custody. In May 2024, a fraud charge was formally laid against him.
Artwork Returned, but Some Remain Unclaimed
In a statement released on Monday, the Saanich Police Department confirmed that 1,050 of the seized artworks have been returned to their rightful owners. However, several pieces remain unclaimed, and police continue their efforts to track down the owners of these works.
Court Proceedings Ongoing
The criminal charge against Lucyshyn has not yet been tested in court, and he has publicly stated his intention to defend himself against any pending allegations. His next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2024.
Impact on the Local Art Community
The news of Lucyshyn’s alleged fraud has deeply affected Vancouver Island’s art community, particularly collectors, galleries, and artists who may have been impacted by the gallery’s operations. With high-value pieces from artists like Emily Carr involved, the case underscores the vulnerabilities that can exist in art transactions.
For many art collectors, the investigation has raised concerns about the potential for fraud in the art world, particularly when it comes to dealing with private galleries and dealers. The seizure of such a vast collection of artworks has also led to questions about the management and oversight of valuable art pieces, as well as the importance of transparency and trust in the industry.
As the case continues to unfold in court, it will likely serve as a cautionary tale for collectors and galleries alike, highlighting the need for due diligence in the sale and appraisal of high-value artworks.
While much of the seized artwork has been returned, the full scale of the alleged fraud is still being unraveled. Lucyshyn’s upcoming court appearances will be closely watched, not only by the legal community but also by the wider art world, as it navigates the fallout from one of Canada’s most significant art fraud cases in recent memory.
Art collectors and individuals who believe they may have been affected by this case are encouraged to contact the Saanich Police Department to inquire about any unclaimed pieces. Additionally, the case serves as a reminder for anyone involved in high-value art transactions to work with reputable dealers and to keep thorough documentation of all transactions.
As with any investment, whether in art or other ventures, it is crucial to be cautious and informed. Art fraud can devastate personal collections and finances, but by taking steps to verify authenticity, provenance, and the reputation of dealers, collectors can help safeguard their valuable pieces.
