Wander Into the World of Norval Morrisseau
Norval Morrisseau (Canadian, 1932-2007)
The Thunderbird, 1980 Oil on Canvas |
Wander Into the World of Norval Morrisseau
September 16th - November 14th 2020 Norval Morrisseau is the most known and recognized Indigenous artist in Canada. He is considered the founder of the Woodland School of art, which is the art style based on the traditional Indigenous legends. It is unmistakably recognizable through the use of bright colours, bold lines, heavy black outlines of forms and X-ray views of people, animals and spirits. Morrisseau was the first Ojibwa to break traditional rules by depicting spiritual knowledge in his paintings. Initially, he was criticized for doing that by the Indigenous community but today he is celebrated as the first artist who made this art form a visual language; traditional Indigenous stories, legends and culture are visually presented in his timeless paintings. Morrisseau’s images carry powerful messages, they are full of symbolism and spirituality translate oral into visual stories.
Norval Morrisseau was born in 1931 in Beardmore, Northern Ontario. In keeping with Anishinaabe tradition, he was sent to live with his maternal grandparents at Sand Point reserve on the shores of Lake Nipigon, Ontario. There, Morrisseau learned the stories and cultural traditions of his peoples from his grandfather Moses Potan Nanakonagos a shaman trained within the Midewiwin spiritual tradition. From his grandmother Veronique Nanakonagos, he learned about Catholicism. At age six, Morrisseau was sent to a residential school, St. Joseph’s Indian Residential School in Fort William, where he faced abuse which left permanent emotional scars on him and influenced his life.
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