Norval Morrisseau, also known as Copper Thunderbird, is an Anishinaabe artist who was born in 1931 in Sandy Lake First Nation, near Thunder Bay, Ontario. He was brought up by his maternal grandfather Moses Potan Nanakonagos, a shaman who strongly influenced Morrisseau’s life and works.
Morrisseau began developing his artistic talent at a young age. During his youth he started drawing on rocks or in damp sand. These practises eventually gave way to early attempts at painting that used ink, pastels, and crayons on birch bark, brown paper, and cardboard. The result was a professional artistic process that attempted to transfer tradition to a new strategy and medium.
In his approach to painting, Morrisseau assumed the drawing style from the Mide Scrolls and converted it to modern canvas. This style became known as the Woodland School of Art and has inspired the work of many subsequent Indigenous artists. Distinctive aspects of the style include: locating the action of the work within the people or figures featured, employing plain backgrounds, organically connection of figures, and bright bold use of colour with black outlines. His work came under considerable debate within Indigenous communities because many believed the sacred drawings and content of the Mide Scrolls was not intended to exist outside of the scrolls or be accessed outside of Anishinaabe circles. Morrisseau and his supporters maintain that his work is an essential process in maintaining links between cultural tradition, history and future generations.
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Person with Hat by Morrisseau, Norval |
In 1962, Morrisseau went to the Pollack Gallery in Toronto and offered to sell his painting on birch bark to owner and artist Jack Pollock. Pollock decided to commercially exhibit Morrisseau and in doing so would change the way the public understood Indigenous art and artists. This first show was a huge sensation and was followed by a long and successful public career as a contemporary artist. Between 1963 and 1993, Morrisseau’s work was displayed in twenty-two group exhibitions and twenty-five solo exhibits between 1962 and 2001. His works continued to be featured in collections internationally.
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Thunderbirds by Morrisseau, Norval |
Education
A self-taught artist, Norval would subsequently be the recipient of several honourary degrees.
Selected Exhibitions
'Norval Morrisseau and the Emergence of the Image Makers' - Art Gallery of Ontario, 1984
Canadian Museum of Civilization, Ottawa, 1991
The Drawing Center, New York, 2000
Canadian Museum of Civilization, Ottawa, 1991
The Drawing Center, New York, 2000
Collections
Art Gallery of Ontario
McMichael Gallery
National Gallery of Canada
Red Lake Regional Heritage Centre
McMichael Gallery
National Gallery of Canada
Red Lake Regional Heritage Centre
Work Cited
Seller, Amanda. “Profile of Noreval Morrisseau, (1932): Ojibwa, Artist, and Storyteller”. Ed. Newhouse, David. Hidden In Plain Sight: Contributions of Canadian Aboriginal Peoples to Canadian Identity and Culture. Toronto: University of Toronto Press Inc, 2007.
