These Group of Seven artist's sketches are fake — and that's the point of this Vancouver Art Gallery exhibit

The Vancouver Art Gallery has turned a nearly nine-year inquiry into the provenance of 10 oil sketches thought to be by famed Group of Seven painter J.E.H. MacDonald into a new exhibit that details the process that ultimately determined they were fake.

MacDonald, who was born in England but lived in Toronto, founded the Group of Seven, a school of influential Canadian landscape painters active in the 1920s and 1930s who were known for their vibrant colours and dynamic forms.

Members in the group often sketched in oil paint in the field before returning to their studios to turn them into larger paintings. 

The sketches are prized pieces of art in their own right and are shown in galleries, including the Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG).

In 2015, the VAG announced an acquisition of 10 new oil sketches, previously unknown to be associated with MacDonald.

But soon after the unveiling of the works, questions arose about whether the oil sketches, some of which depicted vibrant garden scenes, were really by MacDonald.

Globe and Mail reporter Marsha Lederman reported extensively on the issue, chronicling a purported narrative that said the sketches were unearthed from a Ontario backyard.

A Tangled Garden

As art experts and others weighed into the debate, the gallery postponed a planned exhibition in order to investigate the authenticity of the 10 works.

"The gallery turned to leading art historians, handwriting experts and the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) for in-depth scientific and artistic investigation into these sketches," said VAG CEO and executive director Anthony Kiendl at a news conference on Friday.

Ultimately, the CCI — a federal agency meant to help preserve and validate Canadian heritage, such as art — was able to determine that paint from at least eight of the 10 oil sketches would not have been available to MacDonald during his career. He died in 1932.

"The sketches each contained one or more pigments that were not available during MacDonald's lifetime, showing he couldn't have painted these works," said Kate Helwig, senior conservation scientist at the CCI.

The exhibit also shows discrepancies in the writing on the back of the paintings, which was assessed by handwriting experts.

The Current10:51An exhibit of (entirely fake) J.E.H. MacDonald sketches

The Vancouver Art Gallery acquired 10 works by Group of Seven painter J.E.H. MacDonald in 2015 — and now knows they were fakes all along. Curator Richard Hill tells us about turning these pieces into a new exhibition, and the road to discovering they were forgeries.

'Not embarrassed' 

Instead of jettisoning the works, however, the gallery chose to create an expansive exhibit around them that chronicles the journey of their acquisition to the eventual realization that they were fakes.

It's called J.E.H. MacDonald? A Tangled Garden and features the fake works alongside real, authenticated paintings, along with much of the evidence, interviews and Lederman's reports.

"This exhibition is one that fundamentally tells the story of the Vancouver Art Gallery's investigation of these sketches in all its forms," said Richard Hill, the VAG's Canadian art curator.

When asked if the gallery was embarrassed to have been duped over the acquisition of the 10 sketches, its leaders said instances of this type of forgery were rare and they were proud to come up with the exhibit about it.

"The question of embarrassment — it's a good question, but I think that the important thing is that we're transparent and ... that we move forward in an authentic way, and I'm not embarrassed about that," said Kiendl.

"I've very proud of this exhibit."

J.E.H. MacDonald? A Tangled Garden runs from Dec. 16 until May 12, 2024.