Norval Morrisseau
Picture:"Medicine People" NORVAL MORRISSEAU THE KING OF WOODLAND ART , also known as Copper Thunderbird (Miskwaabik Animiiki), born March 14,1932 on Sand Point Ojibwe Reserve,near Beardmore, Ontario (now known as Thunder Bay). Norval Morrisseau,a native aboriginal artist who was also the founder of Woodland school(style) also known as Legend or Medicine painting. He received an Order of Canada, 1978 and elected to Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.He was also the only Canadian painter asked to exhibit in Paris French Revolution bicentennial, 1989. Morrisseau learned stories, myths, spiritual things from his grandfather while growing up. He gained only a fourth grade education at the Indian boarding school in Ft.William (now known as Thunder Bay)back on the reserve he explored old sites and canoe routes, paying particular attention to the rock art,petroglyphs, when he tried to paint his thoughts,dreams and visions,older people told him not to. Still, Norval Morrisseau had a series of dreams and visions that were calling him to be a shaman-artist. His paintings are icons,images which help focus on spiritual powers, generated by traditional beliefs and wisdom.
At the beginning of Morrisseau's journey in painting, for the first few years, his paintings where being called;"x-ray vision". The artist's art work was perceived to be as a kind of spirit-guts representation of sources of powers. This was being delivered by the inside animals to the inside people. An x-ray anatomy of an animal and another animal inside its body with power lines radiating from the spines of the animals. These features are found all over North America on rock-petroglyphs and some over the Canadian Shield and Great Lakes Woodlands, although, these have received almost no attention in comparison with the petroglyphs of the Southwest. In 1962, Morrisseau met a Toronto artist-gallery owner Jack Pollock, who was teaching painting in northern Ontario. Pollock was impressed with Norval's painting that he put on a solo exhibition of Morrisseau's work at his Toronto Gallery.They found it to be very unusual and he sold out in one day,the rest is history.
-1st picture called:"Thunderbird" -2nd picture called:"Safety of the Nest" -3rd picture called:"Union of Family" -4th picture called:"Gift of Salmon" -5th picture called:"Black Robe" -6th picture called:"Medicine Bear With Thunderbird"
-Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Québec -The Montréal Museum of Fine Art, Montréal, Québec -Confederation Centre Art Gallery and Museum, Charlottetown, PEI -National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario -Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Ottawa, Ontario -Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa, Ontario -McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario -Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario -The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario -City of Toronto Collection, Toronto, Ontario -Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, Ontario -Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario -Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ontario -Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba -Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY: -Selwyn Dewdney and Kenneth Kidd. Indian Rock Paintings of the Great Lakes. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press, 1963. -Norval Morrisseau, Edited by Selwyn Dewdney. Legends of My People: The Great Ojibway. Toronto, Ontario: Ryerson Press, 1965. -Herbert T. Schwartz. Windigo and Other Tales of the Ojibway. Illustrated by Norval Morrisseau. Toronto, Ontario: McCelland and Stewart, 1969. -Sinclair, Lister, Jack Pollock, and Norval Morrisseau. The Art of Norval Morrisseau. Toronto, Ontario: Methuen, 1979. -Tom Hill and Elizabeth McLuhan. Norval Morrisseau and the Emergence of the Image Makers. Toronto: Methuen, 1984. -Southcott, Mary E. The Sound of the Drum: The Sacred Art of the Anishnabe. Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press, 1984. -Norval Morrisseau and Donald C. Robinson. Norval Morrisseau: Travels to the House of Invention. Toronto, Ontario: Key Porter Books, 1997.
Or do you want to go back and explore: "The Native Artworks Webpage" This site provides the best Aboriginal Artists in America/North America and is structured in alphabetical order for easy use.
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