David Voss is a Canadian art forger of Indigenous artworks, in particular those of the Anishmaabe artist Norval Morrisseau, of the Ojibway Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek First Nation who has been deceased since 1987.[1][2] He has forged documents between 1996 and 2019 as a part of a fraud ring that was based in Thunder Bay, Ontario.[1]
Voss and a ring of eight others were arrested in 2023 for forging and selling works by Morrisseau for over a decade. Voss and his team worked in an assembly line that included children an in sweatshop-like conditions to produce forgeries using a "paint-by-numbers" process to create fake paintings.[1]
Voss and his team forged thousands of artworks by Morrisseau. The forgeries resulted in $100 million Canadian dollars of losses to the artist's estate.[2]
Voss pleaded guilty to the art fraud ring charges. The sentencing judge declared the Voss forgery ring as the "largest art fraud in history" in Canada.[3][4]
ArtNews reported that "Voss oversaw the production of thousands of artworks falsely attributed to Anishinaabe artist Norval Morrisseau." 500 of these forgeries have been seized by law enforcement as of June 2024.[5]
References
edit- ^ a b c "Key Figure in World's Biggest Art Fraud Sentanced". Artforum. September 9, 2024. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
- ^ a b Law, Sarah (5 September 2024). "Norval Morrisseau's legacy 'irrevocably damaged' due to art fraud, says judge giving man 5 years in prison". Canadian Broadcast Corporation. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
- ^ Diaczuk, Doug (5 September 2024). "David Voss sentenced to five years for role in Norval Morrisseau art fraud ring". Thunder Bay news. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
- ^ Sutton, Benjamin (6 June 2024). "Alleged ringleader of Canada's 'biggest art fraud' pleads guilty". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
- ^ Ho, Karen K. (7 June 2024). "Mastermind of 'Canada's Largest Art Fraud' Guilty of Peddling Fake Norval Morrisseau Works". ArtNews. Retrieved 14 September 2024.