The two paintings by Indigenous artist Norval Morrisseau stolen from Confederation College in Thunder Bay more than 40 years ago have finally returned to the fold. An amicable agreement was reached with the Montreal art collector who had owned them all this time, without knowing that they had been stolen, and who was going to court to retain his right of ownership.
“I couldn’t be happier that they were found and brought home,” said the Homework Confederation College President Kathleen Lynch. Even if the investigation could not lead to the thieves, she considers the “mystery solved” now that the paintings have been returned.
According to art historian and Carleton University professor Carmen Robertson, it is a “true celebration” to see these important works returned to the college of applied arts. “The Anishinaabe artist enjoys an international reputation, but his deep ties to Ontario and Thunder Bay make this comeback particularly significant,” she says.
The works of Norval Morrisseau, entitled Half-God Figure 1 and Demi-God Figure 2were stolen from Confederation College in 1981 by two men, “dressed in janitorial uniforms”, who simply removed them from the walls of the establishment, without anyone being unduly concerned at the time, according to Mme Lynch.
For four decades, the paintings remained untraceable until in 2018, a Toronto art curator recognized them as a Quebec colleague was looking to sell them. Since all this time, it is the Montreal lawyer and collector G. George Sand, who had them in his possession.
He had bought them for the sum of $7,000 the same year of their disappearance, in a small gallery of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, today closed, it is indicated in the request filed by Mr. Sand at the Court of Quebec in September 2019.
Upon learning that the paintings had been stolen and in fact belonged to Confederation College, Mr. Sand turned to the courts to seek to be declared “the sole, exclusive and absolute owner of the paintings, having acquired them from good faith with a reputable art gallery. According to court documents, the case was settled out of court on 1er March 2021.
Confederation College declined to specify the nature of the agreement, saying it was confidential information. Contacted by The Devsee, Mr. Sand said he was satisfied with the way in which this case was settled, without giving further details. “It’s for the best that the paintings are going back to Confederation College,” he said.
Born in 1931 on the Sand Point Reserve in Beardmore, near Thunder Bay, Ontario, Norval Morrisseau is considered a pioneer of contemporary Aboriginal art in Canada. He is the originator of the Pictographic Woodland style, now called Anishinaabe painting. His brightly colored canvases often depict animals and traditional Aboriginal legends. The artist died in 2007.
Confederation College plans to hold an event soon to mark the return of the two paintings. They will then be exhibited at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery to make them accessible to the general public.