>>> www.NorvalMorrisseauLegalDefenceFund.com (Part I) ~ Revisited ~

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- An Introduction
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"I don't wish my work to be exploited, but to be properly used as an art form in its proper place where for the generations of the great Ojibway people it can be seen in the future, as well as be appreciated by all our white brothers." Norval Morrisseau, September 1962
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~ The following has been trasferred in its entirety from the above stated web site ~
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I am glad to announce the establishment of the www.norvalmorrisseaulegaldefencefund.com. -
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There are and have been many misrepresentations by people with respect to the works of Norval Morrisseau. I direct the reader to Exhibit "A" which is an article in National Post of May 18th, 2001. In the second paragraph Mr. Don Robinson (of Kinsman Robinson Galleries*) states that he was suspicious of the authenticity of 23 paintings which were brought to him by another collector who purchased them at Kahn Auctions. I enclose in Exhibit "B" a statement from that collector. Mr. Robinson in the article only mentions that he bought some works of Norval Morrisseau at Kahn Auctions himself. In fact, over the period between late 1999 and early 2000 Mr. Robinson actually purchased 28 painting from the same auction house (please see Exhibit "C"), he openly encouraged other people to buy them and unsuccessfully bid on another 40 to 60 more paintings from the same auction house. Please refer to Exhibits "D" and "E" which are the statements from the auction house owners. Mr. Robinson in fact tried to get the supplier to sell to him directly and bypass Kahn auctions. The statements of the auction house owners clearly show this. Mr. Robinson also states in the article that Norval knows who are painting these "fakes" but to date he has never named them nor pursued legal action against them. The question is why would Mr. Robinson and his legal team not pursue the people Norval says he knows were painting these so called "fakes"? In fact, Mr. Robinson and Mr. Morrisseau's management team would be deficient in their fiduciary duties to Mr. Morrisseau by not pursuing these people which he says Norval said he knows are painting them. Moreover, to date Mr. Robinson and Norval's handlers cannot point to one case where they have proved that someone made, sold, distributed or even marketed one "fake". Not one case.
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Please now refer to Exhibit "F" which is the May 19th, 2001 letter from Don Robinson to his clients. It is interesting that in this letter Mr. Robinson does not mention the name of Kahn Auctions. Nor does he mention the fact that he bought and sold paintings from Kahn auctions in his gallery but contends that the collector who brought the paintings which were purchased from the same auction house (and same source) were fakes.
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- APPRAISALS DONE BY KINSMAN ROBINSON GALLERIES FOR PAINTING(S) PURCHASED FROM KAHN AUCTIONS
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Kinsman Robinson claim to be experts with respect to the authenticity of Norval Morrisseau paintings. Please now refer to Exhibit "G" which shows an appraisal done by Kinsman Robinson Galleries from a client who clearly states where the paintings were purchased (Kahn Auctions) and the subsequent appraisal as of August 18th, 1999. Also, another appraisal done on October 30th, 1999 of the paintings also purchased at Kahn Auctions has been presented. In both cases the Kinsman Robinson Galleries provided appraisals. It is funny that the same auction house where Mr. Robinson purchased his Morrisseaus says are now fakes were appraised and authenticated by his own gallery as being authentic.
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I now refer the reader to Exhibit "H". Here is the correspondence from Mr. Robinson's own lawyer stating that Mr. Robinson did in fact purchase the painting(s) that he never bothered to tell the newspaper nor his own clients as per point 5 as per page 2 . Moreover, it was Mr. Robinson who was victimized and "taken in". Some expert. Mr. Robinson contends they are fakes but he has interestingly never asked for his money back. As far as the continuing investigation it's been seven (7) years and still no mention of anything. I guess experts take their time.
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I keep reading in the various national publications (National Post, Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, even the Toronto Sun) etc. about the existence of all these so called fakes. However, I have yet to hear of anyone, anywhere or at any time being convicted or even charged with selling/distributing...etc of such Norval Morrisseau fakes. Moreover, at the opening of the Morrisseau show at the McMichael Gallery; Gabe Vadas proclaimed that he had a disk of 1200 Morrisseau paintings, 800 of which according to Gabe were fakes. I also enclose as per Exhibit "I" a copy some correspondence with Mr. Vadas' lawyer in Vancouver where his lawyer admits to the existence of this disk.
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- NORVAL MORRISSEAU HERITAGE SOCIETY
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This now brings me to the Norval Morrisseau Heritage Society (NMHS). Mr. Morrisseau's children want and have nothing to do with this Committee. In fact it is their preference that this Committee be disbanded. This Committee is supposed to work at arm's length and be independent yet they do not even have their own web site. Moreover, the only way to contact the Committee is via a post office box in Ottawa that is mentioned on Kinsman Robinson Galleries' web site. So much are independence and impartiality. Mr. Robinson has set up the Committee as his straw man. He then went to ADAC and had them implement a policy they prevented another member of the association to have the ability to authenticate a Morrisseau but then have other members of ADAC refer to the NMHS to provide the authentication.
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With respect to Mr. Morrisseaus' Estate. Norval's family was left with nothing. It is one of the purposes of the Norval Morrisseau Legal Defence Fund to raise funds in order to help Norval's children at least benefit from any future dispositions of their father's works including all intellectual rights.
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To conclude, I ask the reader to forward a copy of this site to any other collector and send a link to your local newspaper. I will keep people informed as to where and how payments to the Norval Morrisseau Legal Defence Fund can be made. -
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Source: www.norvalmorrisseaulegaldefencefund.com
---------/Additional Information - "PDF" Document No. 1/
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* - Kinsman Robinson Galleries /Principal Morrisseau dealer - Representing Norval Morrisseau (1932-2007) and his artwork over the last nineteen years./

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BLOG MASTER'S COMMENT:
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"These 'controversies' which have involved Norval Morrisseau's art have been caused by individuals and galleries who/which were closely associated with the artist. These few people began spreading 'false statements' that paintings of a certain style were not done by Norval Morrisseau's hand. Particularly those paintings from the 1970's presented on this blog and that have been offered for sale for more than 'three decades' in galleries all across Canada without question.
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They have been trying unsuccessfully 'to harness' the secondary market by slandering 'one of Norval Morrisseau's greatest periods of art' which either came out in the late 1960's, 1970's and early 1980's. They mentioned in their last major publication NORVAL MORRRISSEAU - Return to the House of Invention** (page 144) that 1980's were turbulent years for Norval Morrisseau and that his productive life was seriously interrupted by bouts of desctructive alcoholism causing his artistic productivity to be 'next-to-nothing' during these periods - to further their agenda of 'selling later Morrisseau period art' predominantly coming from the late 1980's and 1990's which they hold large inventory stock.
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By discrediting this large body of work done by the late Norval Morrisseau shows us all that a great 'disrespect' to the artist and his legacy has occured and 'their actions cannot be tolerated'. Legal actions are well underway with positive outcomes to be anticipated soon."
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Note: Norval Morrisseau painted thousands of paintings in the 1980's which proves that his artistic productivity was not 'next-to-nothing' during these periods. Many of these paintings have been presented on the NORVAL MORRISSEAU BLOG since its inception in November 2007.
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Spirit Walker
/ spiritwalker2008@gmail.com /
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** - 'NORVAL MORRRISSEAU - Return to the House of Invention' (ISBN 1-55263-726-3)

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>>>Reference postings:
- Morrisseau History Detective Stories (Part I),
- Morrisseau History Detective Stories (Part II),
- Morrisseau History Detective Stories (Part III) &
- Justice for Norval Morrisseau Found. -
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- Still image of Norval Morrisseau in this posting from "The Paradox of Norval Morrisseau" - film by NFB © 1974