Group to authenticate Morrisseau artwork

A group of art experts is being assembled in Toronto to help stem the proliferation of fake Norval Morrisseau paintings.

Morrisseau, an Ojibway, is recognized as one of Canada's most influential First Nations artists.

Aaron Milrad, Morrisseau's lawyer, says a committee of five Morrisseau experts will be in place by the end of April to authenticate Morrisseau artwork. Anyone owning a piece will be urged to contact the committee.

Milrad hopes to create a central repository of Morrisseau archives and records in Toronto to help the committee prepare an official inventory of the artist's work.

Forgeries are so abundant that Morrisseau recently put an ad in the Globe and Mail newspaper saying: "for the record, I would like to state that Kinsman Robinson Galleries are my sole authorized representatives in Canada."

The Morrisseau family has hired a private investigator to track down the source or sources of the forgeries, which have cropped up across Canada.

Milrad acknowledges people are "buying in good faith" but says many will be disappointed to discover they are not Morrisseaus.

Milrad says he hopes to have the repository up and running by early 2006 to coincide with a three-month retrospective of Morrisseau's work at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.

Morrisseau, 73, is being treated for Parkinson's disease at a nursing home in Nanaimo, B.C. He hasn't produced anything since 2001.

His vivid pictographic paintings using strong colours have been praised for their infusion of native themes with European traditional painting. Many artists have since emulated his style. Morrisseau's paintings sold for tens of thousands in the early 1970s and in 1978, he was named to the Order of Canada.

In the late 1980s, Morrisseau's alcoholism landed him on the streets of Vancouver. The artist sold paintings and sketches for as little as $10 to buy liquor.