Thursday, November 22, 2007

Painting that was for sale...

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... on the COGHLAN ART Studio & Gallery website a few years ago and at later date labelled as fake. At my recent sale on E-bay I included a couple of images of the paintings, as a reference of the authentic work of Norval Morrisseau - one of those paintings you can see attached to this Blog posting (click on image to enlarge). I confronted the gallery director by asking him indirectly how can he make such statements that paintings for sale on E-bay are fakes, and this is what he replied to me:

"Hi, my name is Bryant Ross and I am the director of Coghlan Art Studio and Gallery. I am the individual you refer to. My warning on E-bay is not meant to scare anyone. It is meant to inform the public about the status of the Morrisseau paintings on E-bay. I am doing this at the request of the artist himself. Out of all the paintings that I have displayed on my web site you had no trouble picking out the 2 fakes. I bought these 2 paintings from a dealer from Winnipeg. When Morrisseau told me that they were not his I realized that I had been ripped off and I took them off the market. I have since donated them at my own expense to the Norval Morrisseau Heritage Society to use as example of the fake paintings. It has never been stated that all the galleries in Canada have fake paintings. But there are many fakes in the marketplace. You seem to think that the motivation in this is money. The fact is that Norval Morrisseau does not want his legacy to include these fake paintings."

*From my point of view it appears that Mr. Ross is just an instrument in Gabe Vadas' hands, and whatever Vadas says, Ross does. Also, Mr. Ross says that his motivation is not money. How is it that prints on canvas that are for sale in the Museum of American Indian in Manhattan (New York City), for the Norval Morrisseau exhibition "Shaman Artist", are the same ones that he is selling for Gabe Vadas' ("Bear Walker Society" & "Herb Gatherer") and nobody else has the right to sell any other works (prints and/or originals) of Norval Morrisseau after knowing that many other people own the copyright to Norval Morrisseau's paintings? It's quite obvious that for Mr. Ross & Mr. Vadas it is all about money. I am just curious how long this charade will last. Norval Morrisseau definitely deserves better...

/The painting in this posting is an authentic work of © Norval Morrisseau/
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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bryant Ross of Coghlan Gallery did indeed put on his website that all Morrisseau originals sold on e-bay over a period of several months were fakes.

I purchased an original Norval Morrisseau in the middle of this timeframe. It came with a letter of authenticity from Mrs. Lattimer from Lattimer Gallery in B.C.

After seeing Mr. Bryant's comments I contacted the Lattimer Gallery and was assured by Mrs. Lattimer in writing that she had bought the piece directly from Norval Morrisseau.

I can only conclude that either Mrs. Lattimer, who provided a written letter of authenticity for my particular piece, or Mr. Ross, who made such a sweeping statement condemning hundreds of original paintings, is a liar.

Personally, I believe Mrs. Lattimer.

Mr. Ross indicated that his statement was not intended to scare anyone, nor was it about the money. As Mr. Morrisseau is unable to speak, comments attributed to him come solely from Gabe Vadas.
With Mr. Vadas doing the talking it is definitely about the money.

Furthermore, I can personally produce several affidavits alledgedly signed by Norval Morrisseau that are contradictory in nature.

These affidavits, carefully studied, clearly show that Norval Morrisseau is not capable of identifying his work, and has not been able to do so for several years.

The truth about this hoax is long overdue.

22 November, 2007 10:25
Anonymous said...

Here is the exact comment that Bryant Ross a.k.a eBay ID Coghlanart posted on his eBay listing(s) during that period earlier this year of 2007.This warning had been on his eBay listing(s) for months and he had changed the wording after he started getting flack from other vendors on eBay who have been severly damaged by this man's actions to control the secondary market.Here is the wording from his listing as it was posted on his eBay auction listing before he changed it to a more benign manner of slander.Mr.Ross has since removed his WARNING COMMENT off his eBay listings without a single apology to the rest of us ligitimate eBay Vendors that he could easily post on one of his listings currently being auctioned on eBay.

"WARNING
There continues to be many fake Morrisseau paintings being sold on ebay.
All the "original" Morrisseau paintings that have been on ebay since August '06 have been fake.
The sellers use the ebay User ID kept private feature so that people like myself can not
contact the bidders to warn them.
Why would these sellers sell authentic paintings for a fraction of their value on ebay?
A certificate of authenticity means nothing. If you can fake the painting, you can fake the certificate.
If they were authentic I would buy every one of them for more than they sell for on ebay.
Many legitimate galleries have been duped by the fakers.
These galleries continue to try to sell these paintings as the real thing, trying to recoup their losses.
I have worked for Morrisseau for more than 20 years. I am authorized by the artist to sell his work.
I have sold hundreds of paintings directly from the artist.
If you have questions I would be happy to try and answer them.
Before you purchase a Morrisseau painting, do your homework."

More in depth news about this situation will be posted soon.Thank You SpiritWalker for giving us the chance to voice our opinions on these and many more matters concerning the ArtWork of Norval Morrisseau.

22 November, 2007 21:23
Anonymous said...

Meegwitch from you comment

22 November, 2007 23:33

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