Norval Morrisseau (March 14, 1932 – December 4, 2007), also known as Copper Thunderbird, was an Indigenous Canadian

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

from the

Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek First Nation The Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek (formerly known as Sand Point First Nation, and occasionally known as Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabeg) is an Ojibwe First Nation Band government in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. Their traditional territory is the Sa ...

. Known as the "

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

of the North", Morrisseau created works depicting the legends of his people, the cultural and political tensions between native Canadian and European traditions, his existential struggles, and his deep

spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...

and

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...

. His style is characterized by thick black outlines and bright colors. He founded the Woodlands School of Canadian art and was a prominent member of the “

Indian Group of Seven The Professional Native Indian Artists Incorporation (PNIAI), informally known as the Indian Group of Seven, was a group of First Nations in Canada, First Nations artists from Canada, with one from the United States. Founded in November 1973, they ...

”.

Biography

Anishinaabe The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawat ...

, Morrisseau was born March 14, 1932, on the Sand Point

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

reserve near Beardmore, Ontario. His full name is Jean-Baptiste Norman Henry Morrisseau, but he signs his work using the

Cree syllabics Cree syllabics are the versions of Canadian Aboriginal syllabics used to write Cree dialects, including the original syllabics system created for Cree and Ojibwe. There are two main varieties of syllabics for Cree: Western Cree syllabics and ...

writing ᐅᓵᐚᐱᐦᑯᐱᓀᐦᓯ (''Ozaawaabiko-binesi'', unpointed: ᐅᓴᐘᐱᑯᐱᓀᓯ, "Copper/Brass

hunder Hundar is a village in the Leh district of Ladakh, India famous for Sand dunes, Bactrian camels. It is located in the Nubra tehsil, on the banks of the Shyok River. The Hunder Monastery is located here. Hundar was once the capital of the fo ...

ird"), as his pen-name for his Anishnaabe name ᒥᐢᒁᐱᐦᐠ ᐊᓂᒥᐦᑮ (''Miskwaabik Animikii'', unpointed: ᒥᐢᑿᐱᐠ ᐊᓂᒥᑭ, "Copper Thunderbird"). In accordance with Anishnaabe tradition, he was raised by his maternal grandparents with little connection to his actual parents. His grandfather, Moses Potan Nanakonagos, a traditional Medicine Man and Knowledge Keeper, taught him the traditions and legends of his people. His grandmother, Grace Theresa Potan Nanakonagos, was a devout

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and from her he learned the tenets of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

. The contrast between these two religious traditions became an important factor in his intellectual and artistic development. At the age of six, Morrisseau was sent to a Catholic residential school, where students were educated in the European tradition, native culture was suppressed, and the use of native language was forbidden. After two years he returned home and started attending a local community school. At the age of 19, he became very sick. He was taken to a doctor but his health kept deteriorating. Fearing for his life, his mother called a medicine-woman who performed a renaming ceremony: she gave him the new name ''Copper Thunderbird''. According to Anishnaabe tradition, giving a powerful name to a dying person can give them new energy and save their lives. Morrisseau recovered after the ceremony and from then on always signed his works with his new name. When he started painting, he was discouraged from sharing traditional stories and images outside of the First Nation, but he decided to break this taboo. Morrisseau contracted tuberculosis in 1956 and was sent to Fort William Sanatorium to recover. There he met his future wife Harriet Kakegamic with whom he had seven children, Victoria, Michael, Peter, David, Lisa, Eugene, and Christian. After being invited by Ontario Provincial Police Constable, Robert Sheppard, to meet the artist, the anthropologist

Selwyn Dewdney Selwyn Hanington Dewdney (October 22, 1909November 18, 1979) was a Canadian writer, illustrator, artist, activist and pioneer in both art therapy and pictography. Early life Selwyn Hanington Dewdney was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, on Oc ...

became an early advocate of Morrisseau's and was very interested in Morrisseau's deep knowledge of native culture and myth. Dewdney was the first to take his art to a wider public.

Jack Pollock Jack Henry Pollock (1 August 1930 – 10 December 1992) was an author, painter, art educator and art dealer who was a fixture on the Toronto art scene for over 3 decades. Pollock was the flamboyant founder and owner of The Pollock Gallery in Toront ...

, a

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

art dealer, helped expose Morrisseau's art to a wider audience in the 1960s. The two initially met in 1962 while Pollock was teaching a painting workshop in Beardmore.Dear M - Letters From a Gentleman of Excess by Jack Pollock (1989) As Pollock did not drive,

Susan Ross This is a list of characters who appeared on ''Seinfeld''. This list features only characters who appeared in multiple episodes; those that appeared in only one are not included here. Primary characters Jerry Seinfeld George Costanza Elaine ...

whom Morrisseau had met in 1961 Susan Ross "Painting is a Way of Life"- A Retrospective Exhibition, Thunder Bay Art Gallery June 3 – July 17, 1994 page 15 and

Sheila Burnford Sheila Philip Cochrane Burnford née Every (11 May 1918 – 20 April 1984) was a Scottish writer. She is best known for her novel The Incredible Journey about two dogs and a cat traveling through the Canadian wilderness. Life and work Born in ...

drove Pollock to visit Morrisseau at his home to view more of his works. Struck by the genius of Morrisseau's art, he immediately organized an exhibition of his work at his Toronto gallery. One of Morrisseau's early commissions was for a large mural in the

Indians of Canada Pavilion The Indians of Canada Pavilion was a pavilion at the 1967 International and Universal Exposition in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Pavilion, constructed as a temporary structure for public exhibition at Expo 67, contained works of Indigenous a ...

Expo 67 The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...

, a revolutionary exhibit voicing the dissatisfaction of the

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

People of Canada with their social and political situation. In 1972, Morrisseau was caught in a hotel fire in Vancouver and suffered serious burns. On that occasion, he had a vision of Jesus encouraging him to be a role model through his art. He converted to the apostolic faith and started introducing Christian themes in his art. A year later he was arrested for drunk and disorderly behaviour and was incarcerated for his own protection. He was assigned an extra cell as a studio and was allowed to attend a nearby church. Morrisseau was the founder of a Canadian-originated school of art called Woodland or sometimes Legend or Medicine painting. His work was influential on a group of younger Ojibwe and Cree artists, such as Blake Debassige,

Benjamin Chee Chee Kenneth Thomas Chee Chee (26 March 1944 – 14 March 1977), known as Benjamin Chee Chee, was an Ojibwa Canadian artist born in Temagami, Ontario. Early life Chee Chee's early life was troubled and he lost track of his mother, for whom he spen ...

, and Leland Bell. His influence on the Woodland school of artists was recognized in 1984 by the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Bev ...

exhibit ''Norval Morrisseau and the Emergence of the Image Makers''. He spent his youth in remote isolation in

northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Pro ...

, near Thunder Bay, where his artistic style developed without the usual influences of other artists' imagery. As the sole originator of his "Woodland" style he became an inspiration to three generations of artists. In 1978, Morrisseau was made a Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

. He was a member of the

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Queen Victoria on 16 July 1880. The Governor General ...

. As Morrisseau's health began to decline as a result of Parkinson's disease and a stroke in 1994, he was cared for by his adopted family of Gabe and Michelle Vadas. In 2005 and 2006, the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the ...

in Ottawa organized a

retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ''retrospectare'', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in medicine, software development, popu ...

of his work. This was the first time that the Gallery dedicated a solo exposition to a native artist. In the final months of his life, the artist used a wheelchair and lived in a residence in

Nanaimo Nanaimo ( ) is a city on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. As of the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census, it had a population of 99,863, and it is known as "The Harbour City." The city was previously known as the "H ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. He was unable to paint due to his poor health. He died of

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possib ...

—complications arising from Parkinson's disease on December 4, 2007 in Toronto General Hospital. He was buried after a private ceremony in Northern Ontario next to the grave of his former wife, Harriet, on Anishinaabe land. The National Arts Centre, urban ink co-production, ''Copper Thunderbird'', premiered on the

Aboriginal Peoples Television Network The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN, stylized aptn) is a Canadian specialty channel. Established in 1992 and maintained by governmental funding to broadcast in Canada's northern territories, APTN acquired a national broadcast lice ...

(APTN) on Monday, February 4, 2008. Norval Morrisseau was honoured with a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award during the NAAF Awards show in 2008.

Style

Morrisseau was a self-taught artist. He developed his own techniques and artistic vocabulary that captured ancient legends and images that came to him in visions or dreams. He was originally criticized by the native community because his images disclosed traditional spiritual knowledge. Initially he painted on any material that he could find, especially

birchbark Birch bark or birchbark is the bark of several Eurasian and North American birch trees of the genus ''Betula''. The strong and water-resistant cardboard-like bark can be easily cut, bent, and sewn, which has made it a valuable building, craftin ...

, and also moose hide. Dewdney encouraged him to use earth-tone colors and traditional material, which he thought were appropriate to Morrisseau's native style. The subjects of his art in the early period were myths and traditions of the

Anishnaabe The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawatomi, ...

people. He is acknowledged to have initiated the Woodland School of native art, where images similar to the

petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

s of the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

region were now captured in paintings and prints. His later style changed: he used more standard material and the colors became progressively brighter, eventually obtaining a neon-like brilliance. The themes also moved from traditional myth to depicting his own personal struggles. He also produced art depicting Christian subjects: during his incarceration, he attended a local church where he was struck by the beauty of the images on

stained-glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

windows. Some of his paintings, like ''Indian Jesus Christ'', imitate that style and represent characters from the Bible with native features. After he joined the new age religion Eckankar in 1976, he started representing on canvas its mystical beliefs. Morrisseau, who was

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

, also produced erotic works featuring sexuality between male figures and between male and female figures. Most of these works are now held in private collections. Other works explored Indigenous conceptions of gender fluidity, such as his massive work ''Androgyny'' (1983), which was formerly exhibited at

Rideau Hall Rideau Hall (officially Government House) is the official residence in Ottawa of both the Canadian monarch and their representative, the governor general of Canada. It stands in Canada's capital on a estate at 1 Sussex Drive, with the main b ...

. The cover art for the

Bruce Cockburn Bruce Douglas Cockburn ( ; born May 27, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His song styles range from folk to jazz-influenced rock and his lyrics cover a broad range of topics including human rights, environmental issues, po ...

album ''

Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws ''Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws'' is the ninth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn. The album has eight songs written around the acoustic guitar and "particularly showcased Cockburn's sparkling guitar work". Up to that time Co ...

'' is a painting by Norval Morrisseau.

Fakes and forgeries

The prevalence of fakes and forgeries was of deep concern to Morrisseau, particularly during his later years, and he actively sought to remove these from the marketplace. In 2005, Morrisseau established the Norval Morrisseau Heritage Society (NMHS). The Society is currently compiling a database of Norval Morrisseau paintings to discredit many prevalent Morrisseau forgeries. This committee, not affiliated with any commercial gallery or art dealer, comprises highly respected members of the academic, legal and Aboriginal communities working on a volunteer basis. It is charged with creating a complete catalogue raisonné of Norval Morrisseau artwork. The NMHS is currently researching Morrisseau art, provenance and materials and techniques in order to complete the task assigned to them by the artist. The NMHS continue their work and in 2008, were in

Red Lake, Ontario Red Lake is a municipality with town status in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, located northwest of Thunder Bay and less than from the Manitoba border. The municipality consists of six small communities� ...

to research additional information and art by the artist. The Art Dealers Association of Canada (ADAC) issued the following directive in the Winter 2007 newsletter to their membership: "The Art Dealers Association of Canada is enacting a rule and regulation that no certificates of authenticity will be issued by any members of

ADAC ADAC, officially the Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (), is Europe's largest motoring association. ADAC is the largest club (Verein) in Germany with around 21 million members. It would be more aptly described today as an individual mo ...

with respect to any works or purported works by Norval Morrisseau and that the Norval Morrisseau Heritage Society is the sole authority for the authentication of works by Norval Morrisseau." ADAC also revoked the membership of a dealer who failed to comply with this directive. Morrisseau also engaged in more direct intervention, identifying fake and forged works available for sale, particularly those purported to be painted by him in the so-called "70s style". He wrote to galleries and made sworn declarations identifying items being sold as "fakes and imitations". More than ten sworn declarations were directed to at least seven dealers and galleries during 1993–2007, requesting that fake and forged works be removed or destroyed. These dealers were the Artworld of Sherway, Gallery Sunami, Maslak McLeod Gallery, Bearclaw Gallery, Gary Bruce Thacky (AKA Gary Lamont of Thunder Bay, Ontario) and Randy Potter Estate Auctions. Building on Morrisseau’s efforts, for the last 20 years, the battle to stop the proliferation of fakes has waged. Lawyers, doctors, Morrisseau’s friends, apprentice and estate, as well as leading native art scholars, government workers and many others, including musician Kevin Hearn of the

Barenaked Ladies Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian rock band formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their self-titled 1991 cassette becoming the first independent release to be certified gold in Canada. They reach ...

, have tried to help in Morrisseau’s battle by exposing the existence of a fraud ring manufacturing fake Morrisseau paintings. The 2019 documentary film '' There Are No Fakes'', directed by Jamie Kastner, helped to bring this issue into the public view. Recently in 2019, after hearing testimony from people inside the fraud ring itself, the Ontario Superior and Appeal courts recognized the existence of that fraud. The courts also found that the Maslak-McLeod Gallery, a vendor of works attributed to Morrisseau, had acted fraudulently.: “The (previous lower court) trial judge erred in failing to find that the Gallery’s provision of a valid provenance statement was a term of the purchase and a warranty, not mere puffery,” the new appeal decision states. Mr. McLeod’s assertion that the painting was genuine was only matched by his elusiveness in demonstrating that fact, which can only be explained as deliberate,” said the appeal panel. “With respect to the provenance statement, Mr. McLeod made a false representation, either knowing that it was false and without an honest belief in its truth, or he made the statement recklessly without caring whether it was true or false, with the intent that Mr. Hearn would rely upon it, which he did, to his personal loss.” Gallery owner Joseph McLeod is no longer alive; McLeod’s estate has been ordered to pay Hearn $50,000 for breach of contract and breach of the Sale of Goods Act, plus punitive damages of $10,000." The debate concerning the authenticity of the "70s paintings" commonly found in the marketplace, continues with ongoing litigation. Law enforcement have launched an active investigation into the Norval Morrisseau art fraud as confirmed by the National Post: "However, police in Thunder Bay say they have now launched a criminal investigation into a possible art fraud ring involving Morrisseau paintings. Spokesman Scott Paradis said Friday investigators are “not prepared to speak about potential suspects or persons of interest.” "The criminal investigation is one of several major developments to take place after what’s shown in the film, which ends with the outcome of the lawsuit."

Solo exhibitions

*1961 Hughes Gallery, London, Ontario *1962, 1963, 1964 Pollock Gallery, Toronto *1965 Hart House Gallery at University of Toronto *1965 Galerie Godard Lefort, Montreal *1966 Musée du Québec (now renamed Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec), Quebec City *1966 Galerie Cartier (Co-sponsored by Pollock Gallery), Montreal *1968 Art Gallery of Newport (Sponsored by Galerie Cartier), Newport, Rhode Island *1969 Galerie St-Paul, St-Paul de Vence, France *1972 Pollock Gallery, Toronto *1974 Canadian Guild of Crafts, Toronto *1974 The Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver *1974 Pollock Gallery, Toronto *1975 Pollock Gallery, Toronto *1975 Shayne Gallery, Montreal *1976 Pollock Gallery, Toronto *1976 Gallery 115, Winnipeg *1977 Pollock Gallery, Toronto *1977 Graphic Gallery, Vancouver *1978 Wells Gallery, Ottawa *1978 First Canadian Place (sponsored by the Pollock Gallery), Toronto *1979 Pollock Gallery, Toronto *1979 The Gallery Stratford, Stratford, Ontario *1979 Shayne Gallery, Montreal *1979 The McMichael Canadian Collection (Artist in residence), Kleinburg, Ontario *1979 Cardigan/Milne Gallery, Winnipeg *1980 Canadian Galleries, Edmonton *1980 Lynnwood Arts Centre, Simcoe, Ontario *1980 Bayard Gallery, New York *1981 Pollock Gallery, Toronto *1981 Anthony's Gallery, Toronto *1981 Anthony's Gallery, Vancouver *1981 Thunder Bay National Exhibition Centre, Thunder Bay, Ontario *1981 Nexus Art Gallery, Toronto *1982 Moore Gallery, Hamilton, Ontario *1982 Masters Gallery, Calgary *1982 Robertson Gallery, Ottawa *1982 The New Man Gallery, London, Ontario *1982 Nexus Art Gallery, Toronto *1982 Legacy Art Gallery, Toronto *1982 Scarborough Public Gallery, Scarborough, Ontario *1984 Ontario Place, Toronto *1984 Ontario North Now, Kenora, Ontario *1985 Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan *1986 First Canadian Place (joint exhibition with Brian Marion), Toronto *1986 Manulife Centre, Edmonton *1987 Gulf Canada Gallery, Edmonton *1988 Sinclair Centre, Vancouver *1989 The Art Emporium, Vancouver *1990 Kinsman Robinson Galleries, Toronto *1991 Kinsman Robinson Galleries, Toronto *1991 Wallack Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario *1992 Jenkins Showler Galleries, White Rock, British Columbia *1994 Kinsman Robinson Galleries, Toronto *1997 Kinsman Robinson Galleries, Toronto *1999 Kinsman Robinson Galleries, Toronto *1999 The Drawing Centre, New York *2001 Art Gallery of South Western Manitoba, Brandon, Manitoba *2001 Canada House Gallery, Banff, Alberta *2001 Drawing Center, New York *2002 Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ontario *2006 Steffich Fine Art, Salt Spring Island, British Columbia *2006 National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa *2006 Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ontario *2006 McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario *2006 Kinsman Robinson Galleries, Toronto *2007 Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico *2007 The George Gustav Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian, New York

References

External links

Norval Morrisseau Legal

Boston Globe Obituary: Norval Morrisseau, was native artist of Canada

Canadian EncyclopediaLife and Work by Carmen Robertson (Art Canada Institute)

There Are No Fakes: A Documentary by Jamie Kastner
at the

, Ottawa, Ontario
Nancy Robinson Villarroel fonds
at the

, Ottawa, Ontario {{DEFAULTSORT:Morrisseau, Norval 1932 births 2007 deaths Deaths from Parkinson's disease Neurological disease deaths in Ontario Members of the Order of Canada Ojibwe people People from Thunder Bay District First Nations painters Artists from Ontario Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts 20th-century First Nations painters Woodlands style Indspire Awards LGBT artists from Canada LGBT First Nations people Canadian male painters 20th-century LGBT people 20th-century Canadian male artists