If you bought an artwork by Harvey John at a major museum gift shop thinking it was a legitimate piece by a Northwest Coast artist, think again.
At least two B.C. museums are offering to refund customers' money after learning the works were made by someone who had falsely claimed Indigenous ancestry.
The Audain Art Museum in Whistler, B.C., says on its site that the gift shop accepted the works “in good faith” from a respected wholesale supplier. The notice said it has severed ties with the supplier and the counterfeit art is no longer in its inventory.
The UBC Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver posted a similar notice, saying it is accepting returns, and noting the works were “falsely represented as Indigenous.”
Harvey John’s biography states that he is Nuu-Chah-Nulth from Vancovuer Island and learned traditional carving from an uncle.
CBC News reported Monday that Steve Hoffmann, an art dealer in Langley, B.C., says he knew Harvey John was a pseudonym for a person he refused to identity.