An Oak Bay art dealer, who is behind a confiscated treasure trove of just over 1,000 artworks, says he will defend himself against fraud charges.
The man who owns the closed Winchester galleries on Oak Bay Avenue said, “I’m going to fight this.”
Speaking from home, the dealer said he had recently been in hospital, “so please respect my privacy.”
The Times Colonist does not name him because no charges have been filed.
Saanic police seized just over 1,000 works of art worth “tens of millions of dollars” after months of investigating an Oak Bay dealer. Among the collections taken from police locker cabinets were a painting by Emily Carr, several works by renowned Canadian artists David Blackwood and Joseph Plackett, and many others of local, national and international fame.
Saanic police did not reveal the dealer’s identity until charges were brought in court. The man was arrested on April 21st and released on several conditions, with a court date set for July, Saanic Konst said. Marcus Anastasiadis. “The investigation is ongoing,” Anastasiadis said on Friday. “And as more and more people come to file reports, the case will continue to develop.”
Investigators are preparing a report on Crown’s lawyer, who recommends criminal charges for numerous allegations of fraud and false claims.
Police say the trader took works of art from people with the intention of passing them on or valuing them, after which he cut off all contact, “selling the art all the time without reimbursing owners or artists,” Anastasiadis said.
The dealer acquired Winchester Galleries – long considered a prestigious gallery featuring Canadian artists – from longtime owners Günther Heinrich and Anthony Sam. In a press release on February 23, 2019, Heinrich said that he and his partner “have passed the baton to a new owner who is a local resident of Oak Bay, and we wish him success and happiness.”
Heinrich subsequently sold the gallery property on 2260 Oak Bay Avenue, which is a restored and remodeled home and contains a 5,000-square-foot gallery on three floors.
The property has since changed ownership twice and has been rented out, according to lease administrator Dave Bornhold, who said the new owner of Winchester Galleries moved out last July when his lease expired.
Bornhold said he had received many calls from people asking where the owner had gone. “They were very upset,” he said.
Mel Munson, an artist at the Victoria Glass Factory, said he received several of his pieces of glass and a painting back from the gallery’s owner, but only after repeated calls last fall.
“It was a quarrel,” Manson said, noting that one piece had not been returned.
As for other artists who did not get their work back, Manson said, “I don’t know what he was thinking or how to get away with it.”
Anastasiadis said Saanic police sent several inquiries via a special email account – art@saanichpolice.ca.
“We have received many emails from artists and owners who have responded to report on their experience with this art and gallery trader,” he said.
“We returned several pieces [on Thursday]but expect to start coming back more next week and in the coming weeks. It was a great start. “
The repository of works of art found during searches in cabinets in Saanic, Oak Bay and Langford was the highest value of property confiscated by the Saanic police department in 30 years.
Police said the piles of packaged artwork included more than 120 works by Plaskett and several by Herbert Siebner and Jean Muing.
A complaint filed with the Vancouver Bureau for Better Business last spring by a Victoria said that a watercolor painting sent to Dorothy Knowles, one of Canada’s most famous landscape artists, had never been returned. After lengthy inquiries, the owner of the gallery told the applicant that the watercolor had been sold and a check had been promised, but never delivered.
Anita Blackwood, wife of David Blackwood, said the artist has lost 13 pieces from the 70s, stored and displayed in the gallery. She said it was a blow to many artists who “were really benefited and disrespected”.
David Ellingsen, a Victoria’s fine arts photographer, said the gallery’s owner “was completely out of his depths” when he took over Winchester Galleries in 2019.
“Once he came in, things started to go downhill,” Ellingsen said. “He started pushing, choking.”
Ellingsen said the previous owners had experienced staff and a good reputation among artists. “When the new owner showed up, he shook.”
Ellingsen said he had returned some of his work – some damaged, which the new dealer had paid for, but several promises to pay for two other frames in the frame never arrived and all contacts were lost. “I realized the sign was on the wall,” Ellingsen said.
He eventually released two works of art worth about $ 4,000. “It may not look like much, but it’s for a working artist,” Ellingsen said.
Art dealers usually charge a 50% commission, but in his case the dealer takes the full value of his work, Ellingsen said.
An additional tragedy in a case like this, he said, is that the new owners of his lost works of art may feel swept away. “It’s not their fault,” Ellingsen said. “There are no winners here.”
dkloster@timescolonist.com
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