SMITH’S COVE, N.S. – If Maud Lewis were to paint this scene, there would be more green on the trees, more blue in the slate-coloured sea and more yellow instead of a dull, grey February sky.
For decades, the paintings had flanked a window in the cottage’s main bedroom. When she slept there, Prescesky said she’d open her eyes each morning to two colourful scenes of a pair of oxen, one in winter, the other in summer surrounded by a field of tulips. Seeing the artwork every day was as much a part of Smith’s Cove’s special elixir as the fresh ocean air and tranquility, she said.
Those who specialize in recovering stolen art say it’s not just collectors who take notice when the value of an artist’s work begins rising sharply, as Lewis’s has. Art thieves are paying attention, too. Lewis, who was crippled by juvenile arthritis and lived in a tiny, shack-like home without running water in Marshalltown, N.S., might find it amusing that artwork she used to sell for a few dollars can now fetch $67,000 at an auction in England. Local auctions are reporting record prices, too - in November, her painting“When I first started collecting her work, you could still buy Maud paintings for $500. And I’d often be the only person bidding.
Her oldest fans take no joy in the rising interest for Lewis’s humble folk art, or the fact that it’s now being targeted by thieves. As the value of the work rose, the cottage’s owner, Lynn Odell, among the many Americans who summer in Smith’s Cove, was encouraged to put the Mauds away for the season.
But Canada, collectors and lawyers complain, is considered open territory for thieves, and a haven for art traffickers. There’s no national stolen art database, and in most parts of the country art theft remains an area of law enforcement that’s chronically underfunded. Given the global nature of art crime, investigating the Maud Lewis thefts is a tall order for the tiny Digby detachment of the RCMP, where cases such as these do not come along very often and expertise in this kind of file is limited. The RCMP say while they initially received some tips helpful to their investigation, they admit the trail has “gone cold.”
Much of the stolen art in the world isn’t sold for a quick buck, explains Joshua Knelman, a Toronto investigative journalist and author of. Often, illicit art is hidden away for years before it resurfaces. “The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on criminals involved in the illicit traffic of cultural property but did not in any way diminish the demand for these items or the occurrence of such crimes,” said Corrado Catesi, coordinator of Interpol’s Works of Art unit. “As countries implemented travel restrictions and other restrictive measures, criminals were forced to find other ways to steal, illegally excavate and smuggle cultural property.
Risley believes whoever has the paintings will have limited options, particularly if they try to keep the works in Nova Scotia. “There’s definitely the school of thought that someone stole these to resell them,” said Corporal Chris Marshall, a spokesperson for the Nova Scotia RCMP. “But given [Maud Lewis’s] cultural significance in Nova Scotia, it could be someone who just loves her paintings and wants to keep them for themselves.”
For years, the untrained artist lived in poverty, nearly anonymous to the larger Canadian art establishment. Any revenue she might have made from her art was jealously guarded by her husband Everett Lewis, a fish seller who was notoriously frugal and known for carrying cash around in a suitcase.