Others about Norval Morrisseau I

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/Opinions and thoughts of admirers of Norval Morrisseau art, art collectors, friends.../




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NORVAL MORRISSEAU: BEST CANADIAN PAINTER EVER

I'm guessing that when the 2010 Vancouver/Whistler Winter Olympics finally roll around in two years there's going to be lots of references to Aboriginal culture. Lots of dancing, drumming, native dress, references to aboriginal creation myths during the opening ceremonies; some elders will be brought in to bless the proceedings, that kind of thing. You can already see them using an Inuksuk (those Inuit 'rock piles') as one of their official icons. And as it should be. I have no problem with it, in fact I'm all for it. Like Australians we post-centennial, post-modern Canadians like to reach back to the deep time or the dream time when it comes time to show our face to the world. How real we are. The indigenous art. What inspired up and out from the land before the blight of colonialism. See, "we" are as ancient as everybody else. As old as Europe. I suppose its a kind of progress really, but a large dose of irony might still be necessary amidst all our mutual, terribly official self-congratulation.

Residential schools aside - check out Bill Reid on the twenty dollar bill. Bill Reid at the Vancouver airport. And my personal favourite, Bill Reid at the Canadian Embassy in Washington.

Many a Canadian white boy and girl has ventured forth into The Bush, however clumsily, trying to catch a whiff of the spirits. Going deep, getting back, oh yeah - getting real. Going back to the earth, because as the late, great Canadian poet Gwendolyn MacEwen once wrote: "No one invited us here."

But I wonder if any "Canadian" (and yes, in the context of this post I do feel the need to put that word in quotation marks) ever saw this 'real spirit' behind the surface of what we now call Canada better and more vibrantly than the recently, dearly departed Norval Morrisseau. His paintings were literally churning from the inside out. Skeletal and skeletons. Often called "x-ray". People within animals and animals within people and animals within animals within people covered in flowers riding on a fish, and all of it singing in the most glorious colour. And so out there and dangerous, freaky, hallucinogenic, tripping the bounds of sanity, and erotic. And inspired by sacred, ancient aboriginal myth.

"Why am I alive?"he said in a 1991 interview with The Toronto Star. "To heal you guys who are more screwed up than I am. How can I heal you? With color. These are the colors you dreamt about one night."

I've adored his work for years, before I ever knew his name or even knew who the heck he was. I bought my first Norval Morrisseau print a few years back at some poster sale in Hamilton and I remember riding the GO bus back into Toronto with the thing spread out on my lap for the whole trip, taking it in grinning ear to ear, just dazzled. And that was just a print. A poster. I tacked it to my kitchen wall and it made me happy every time I looked at it.

If anyone was the God Father of the Renaissance of Aboriginal Art and Culture that has ultimately made Canada a much humbler, more honest, better and yes more beautiful place, it had to be him. And at its heart the work was a profound movement for justice. That which cannot be denied.

Marc Chagall famously compared him to Picasso.

Keep your Group of Seven's, sure.

But Norval Morrisseau was the Best Canadian Painter Ever.

Reid Neufeld
Source: Global Health Nexus Blog /Global Health, Politics and Culture/
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Note from a Blog Master: I am encouraging others to send their thoughts, opinions and personal experiences that refer to Norval Morrisseau and his art.
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* Detailed information about the painting in this posting unknown: "Flower of Life", © c. 1980s or 1990s Norval Morrisseau /Private Collection/

Words of Genius VII

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"These paintings only remind you that you're an Indian. Inside somewhere, we're all Indians. So now when I befriend you, I'm trying to get the best Indian, bring out the Indianness in you to make you think everything is sacred."

Norval Morrisseau
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* The painting in this posting: "Untitled", 30"x40", © c. 1960s Norval Morrisseau /Private Collection/

"SHAMAN ARTIST" in NYC ends today

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"NORVAL MORRISSEAU - SHAMAN ARTIST"
- the first solo exhibition featuring a First Nations artist in 126-year history of the National Gallery of Canada

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Exhibition held at:

National Art Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (2006/02/03 - 2006/04/30), Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada (2006/06/03 - 2006/09/04), McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario, Canada (2006/09/30 - 2007/01/14), Institute of American Indian Arts Museum (IAIA), Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA (2007/06/15 - 2007-09-03), National Museum of the American Indian, New York City, New York, USA (2007/10/20 - 2008/01/20).

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Source: www.norvalmorrisseau.com

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* The painting in this posting: "Untitled", 51"x35" painted c. 1971, is an authentic work of © Norval Morrisseau /Collection of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada - Gift of Audrey and Gary Kilpatrick, Rainy River, Ontario, 2000/

NORVAL MORRISSEAU LAID TO REST

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NORVAL MORRISSEAU (1931-2007)

"We Are All One in Spirit"

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LAKOTA PRAYER

Oh Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds

And whose breath gives life to everyone,

Hear me.

I come to you as one of your many children;

I am weak .... I am small ... I need your wisdom

and your strength.

Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes ever

behold the red and purple sunsets

Make my hands respect the things you have made.

And make my ears sharp so I may hear your voice.

Make me wise, so that I may understand what you

have taught my people and

The lessons you have hidden in each leaf

and each rock.

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I ask for wisdom and strength

Not to be superior to my brothers, but to be able

to fight my greatest enemy, myself.

Make me ever ready to come before you with

clean hands and a straight eye.

So as life fades away as a fading sunset.

My spirit may come to you without shame.

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/ Chief Yellow Lark, Lakota Sioux - 1887/

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* The painting in this posting: "Astral Projection", 27"x39", © 1980 Norval Morrisseau /Private Collection/

IN MEMORIAM: NORVAL MORRISSEAU

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NORVAL MORRISSEAU (1931-2007)
"We Are All One in Spirit"

GRANDFATHER STORY

Grandfather,
Look at our brokenness.

We know that in all creation
Only the human family
Has strayed from the Sacred Way.

We know that we are the ones
Who are divided
And we are the ones
Who must come back together
To walk in the Sacred Way.

Grandfather,
Sacred One,
Teach us love, compassion, and honor
That we may heal the earth
And heal each other.

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Anishnaabe poem

* The painting in this posting: "Family Gathering", 57"x87", © 1976 Norval Morrisseau /Private Collection/

IN MEMORIAM: NORVAL MORRISSEAU

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NORVAL MORRISSEAU (1931-2007)
"We Are All One in Spirit"

DRUMS OF MY FATHER

A hundred thousand years have passed
Yet, I hear the distant beat of my father's drums
I hear his drums throughout the land
His beat I feel within my heart.

The drums shall beat, so my heart shall beat,
And I shall live a hundred thousand years.

Shirley Daniels /Ojibway/

* Detailed information about the painting in this posting unknown: "Title not known", 28"x22", © c. 1970s Norval Morrisseau /Private Collection/

IN MEMORIAM: NORVAL MORRISSEAU

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NORVAL MORRISSEAU (1931-2007)
"We Are All One in Spirit"

NORVAL MORRISSEAU AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE IMAGE MAKERS /Excerpts/

... "It may seem surprising that Indian art in Canada has had such a long struggle for recognition. There are a number of reasons for this neglect. First and foremost, the term "Indian art" has been carelessly defined to include those many and varied arts and crafts that have been created by Indians to reflect their traditional cultures. It is important for the understanding of Indian art that the period of time be specified when discussing any work, because since the time of European contact there has been no "pristine" Indian art that has never been modified or influenced by the dominant Euro-Canadian culture.

This essay explores three areas of Indian art - ceremonial art, the crafted arts, and the new art, examining some of the forces that eventually led to the recognition and recent acceptance of Indian art. It is intended to provide an historical perspective to the development of Indian art generally in Canada, and more specifically to provide the historical context for the acceptance of the style of painting originated by Norval Morrisseau."...

Tom Hill - a Seneca from the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford, Ontario, is Museum Director at the Woodland Indian Cultural Educational Centre in Brantford. An artist and graduate of the Ontario College of Art, he worked for eight years for the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in Ottawa, primarily as Head of the Cultural Secretariat. Beginning in 1978 he was with the Toronto Office of the Secretary of State, responsible for the Native Citizens' Program, and with the Multicultural Directorate, responsible for the visual and performing arts. He has written many articles on Native art and has organized Indian art exhibitions for travel to Brazil, Europe, and Japan.

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... "This book is a visual journey following one man's search for a style that would bridge two cultures, a style that could communicate the essence of Ojibwa values and perceptions to contemporary Native and non-Native viewers alike. In the course of his career, or spirit quest, Norval Morrisseau's work has evolved, as have his own beliefs and paths of self-knowledge. He has been joined on his journey by other artists also concerned with redefining their Indianness and with transmitting Indian culture to new generations. In this book we examine their particular style, but do not do full justice to any single artist."...

Elizabeth McLuhan - a Curator of the Thunder Bay National Exhibition Centre and Centre for Indian Art, a public gallery devoted to contemporary Indjan art. Previously she spent seven years as Native Arts Consultant for the governmentof Ontario, and has worked at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. She holds an M.A. in Indian and Inuit Art History from the University of New Mexico, and has published many articles and organized exhibitions on Native art. She, also, is a committee member of the NORVAL MORRISSEAU HERITAGE SOCIETY (NMHS).

Source: NORVAL MORRISSEAU AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE IMAGE MAKERS; ISBN: 0-458-97390-4, Art Gallery of Ontario, 1984 /Methuen Publications/
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Note: This book is recommended for better understanding of the Anishnaabe/Woodland Art Movement and development of art of Norval Morrisseau. /Out of print but could be found at www.abebooks.com /
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* The painting in this posting: "Homage to Morrisseau", 24"x 20", painted 1979-1980, is an authentic work of © Saul Williams. The image of Saul Williams' painting was used for the front cover of the above mentioned book /Private Collection/

IN MEMORIAM: NORVAL MORRISSEAU

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NORVAL MORRISSEAU (1931-2007)

"We Are All One in Spirit"

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MORRISSEAU'S MARK

Published: Thursday, December 06, 2007

Winnipeg Free Press

The comparisons of Norval Morrisseau to Pablo Picasso were, perhaps, unavoidable. Called the 'Picasso of the North' by the French press, Mr. Morrisseau himself saw parallels when, as a young man, he scrawled on the back of a sketch sent to Picasso "from one great artist to another." Indeed. Canada, particularly a generation of native artists, owes much to Mr. Morrisseau, who died Tuesday at 75.

Mr. Morrisseau never attained the global adulation or the commercial success of the Spanish cubist. But, he, too was at the vanguard of a contemporary movement - his Woodlands School - that inspired budding artists who grew up in his thrall. He was born amid the rugged beauty of the Canadian shield north of Lake Superior, on the Sand Point Reserve at Lake Nipigon, Mr. Morrisseau was the first Indian artist given a solo exhibition in an art gallery, as opposed to a museum. That was in 1962, in Toronto, and it was a roaring success.

Mr. Morrisseau had connections to Manitoba. It was here, in the 1960s, that he became part of a group of notable artists that would be dubbed the Aboriginal Group of Seven. Their homeground was at a Winnipeg shop opened by Daphne Odjig. The movement coincided with an awakening political activism among Indian people; the young were breaking free of the chains that subjugated aboriginal people and that was evident in the art. Ms. Odjig, Mr. Morrisseau, Jackson Beardy and others put to canvas the legends and sacred ceremonies of native spiritualism - considered a taboo. It did not go down well with elders, but it inspired a pride and confidence among new generations. It was a turning point in the cultural relations between natives and mainstream Canada. The heavy black lines and X-ray representations of animals, people and spirits have been etched into the Canadian art consciousness and the country's mythology. The Woodlands School is among Canada's most recognizable contributions to world art history.

Mr. Morrisseau struggled with alcoholism and poverty, but he painted through it all, until his Parkinson's disease and then heart trouble made him too frail. He left behind a voluminous trove of work and a profound legacy: a cultural renaissance that echoes today.

Source: Winnipeg Free Press

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* The painting in this posting: "A Separate Reality", painted from 1979 to 1984, is an authentic work of © Norval Morrisseau /Collection of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Ottawa, Canada/

IN MEMORIAM: NORVAL MORRISSEAU

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NORVAL MORRISSEAU (1931-2007)
"We Are All One in Spirit"
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"The Spirit of Copper Thunderbird Lives!"
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* The photograph of Norval Morrisseau taken at the opening of his first art exhibition at Pollock Gallery in Toronto, 1962; The paintings in this posting: "Thunderbird" 1-2 (left), 30"x23" & "Thunderbird" 2-2 (right), 30"x28", © 1977 Norval Morrisseau /Private Collection/