Sentencing in Noir Morisot forgery case disrupted by new charges

A sentencing hearing for a man convicted of allegedly forging a work by the late Anishinaabe painter Norval Morrisseau was abruptly interrupted this week amid allegations that members of the artist’s estate may have been involved in the forgery. CCTV News.

Jeff Cowan, who was found guilty in November of four counts of fraud related to the sale of fake Morisot paintings, appeared in a Barrie, Ont., courtroom where his sentencing hearing was expected to continue. Instead, the proceedings turned contentious after a surprise intervention by lawyers representing Morisot’s estate.

British Columbia lawyer Jason Gratl told the court he represents the estate, along with Gabe Vadas and Cory Dingle, who have long represented Morisot’s interests. according to CCTV NewsGrater warned Cowan’s attorney, Nathan Gorham, that a civil lawsuit could be filed if comments made during the sentencing hearing defame his client.

Gorham described the communications as “harassment” and “abusive” and said the dispute stemmed from an argument the defense might make about whether individuals associated with Morisot’s estate were aware of or involved in the circulation of the forgeries.

The defense submitted an affidavit from Morisot expert John Zemanovich claiming that Vadas and Dingle were aware of the existence of forgeries of Morisot’s works and that members of the estate may have helped create or sell the forgeries while authenticating them as genuine. These claims have not been proven in court.

Judge Laura Bird gave Grater seven days to respond to the charges. Cowan’s sentencing hearing is scheduled to resume in April, when the defendant is expected to take the stand.

The court conflict is the latest development in a long-running scandal involving the market for dead artists. Earlier this year, a sexual assault lawsuit filed against Morisot’s estate was dismissed by the British Columbia Supreme Court. The case was brought by Mark Anthony Jacobson, who claimed the artist touched him without consent during a visit in 2006, about a year before Morisot’s death. Jacobson sought $5 million in damages, but the court dismissed the suit “for all purposes” and ordered that neither party be liable for any costs.

Cowan’s conviction marks the final criminal verdict by Canadian authorities in the largest art fraud investigation in Canadian history. Prosecutors said he helped find hundreds of forged works and forged false provenance documents related to the late artist.

The wider plan involved multiple actors and spanned decades. Investigators say thousands of paintings mistakenly attributed to Morisot are circulating on the market, some of which were produced using an assembly-line “paint-by-numbers” method designed to imitate the artist’s distinctive Woodland School style.

Police and art experts estimate the operation may have generated tens of millions of dollars in sales and flooded the market with fakes that, in some cases, far outnumbered the genuine items.

The Ojibwe artist, who died in 2007, is widely considered a founding figure in contemporary Aboriginal art in Canada and is sometimes called the “Picasso of the North.” His paintings have been exhibited at major institutions including the National Gallery of Canada and the Detroit Institute of Arts.

While Cowan’s conviction appears to bring the long-running criminal proceedings closer to an end, recent court clashes suggest the legal ramifications of the forgery scandal may not be over yet.