More than 50 paintings falsely claimed as the work of Indigenous artist Norval Morrisseau have been removed from the art market so far in 2026. Art Experts Canada Inc., a Toronto-based art authentication firm, stated in a Friday news release that the fake artworks were removed either through direct purchase or through the firm’s fakes acquisition program. The removal comes as part of a yearslong investigation to eliminate thousands of Morrisseau forgeries that flooded the market after the artist’s death in 2007. Morrisseau has been widely regarded as the Picasso of the North and the grandfather of contemporary Indigenous art in Canada. “We are grateful to the brave and honest clients who have turned over most of these paintings,” Art Experts Canada CEO Jonathan Sommer said in the release. “Their actions help protect collectors, dealers, institutions, Indigenous art history, and the legacy of Norval Morrisseau.” The retrieved pieces will be kept and used for research and educational purposes, the firm stated in the release. Each artwork will also be permanently marked as fake, to ensure that they cannot be resold as “authentic” paintings. Last month, a Morrisseau expert alleged that some of the late artist’s children were complicit in selling fraudulent pieces for profit, in court testimony against Canadian art dealer Jeff Cowan. Cowan had been convicted in November of last year of selling mimicked Morrisseau artworks as part of an art fraud ring. “The children were an important, integral part of the fraud,” John Zemanovich told the court in June. In 2024, a year after Ontario police first uncovered the massive art fraud ring, Morriseau’s children said that the discovery had tainted the value of their father’s works. “People were profiting off my dad’s legacy, his artwork,” one of his children told the Canadian Press then. “My sisters and my other brothers ... we always knew that something was going on.” With files from CTVNewsBarrie.ca Journalist Mike Arsalides and The Canadian Press
