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108 Cumberland St., Toronto, ON M5R 1A6

T.: 416-964-2374 info@kinsmanrobinson.com kinsmanrobinson.com

Kinsman Robinson GalleRies

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NORVALMORRISSEAU2016 Retrospective – 5th Installment

NOVEMBER 5 - 26, 2016

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108 Cumberland Street Toronto, Ontario M5R 1A6T.: 416-964-2374 info@kinsmanrobinson.com kinsmanrobinson.com

KINSMAN ROBINSON GALLERIES

RIGHT: Boy With Headdress, c. 1998

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ABOVE: Norval Morrisseau in 1984 with Gloria Bies and Dr. Anita Granowska inside the Brampton Library. Photo taken at the time of the AGO’s watershed exhibition, “Norval Morrisseau and the Emergence of the Image Makers” (Elizabeth McLuhan and Tom Hill, Methuen, 1984) PHOTO CREDIT: FRITZ BEGEMAN. COURTESY RUDY BIES.

Anishinaabe artist Norval Morrisseau worked outside the established traditions

of European visual culture and on occasion used his art to make forceful political

statements. He defied categorization and challenged conventional understandings

of Indigenous art. Although the media judged him harshly for his alcoholism

and his traditional beliefs, such as shamanism, Morrisseau succeeded in raising

awareness of Indigenous aesthetics and cultural narratives as he developed an artistic

vocabulary that inspired a new Canadian art movement.

RACIAL POLITICS AND ART

When Norval Morrisseau arrived on the Canadian art scene in 1962, he was something of an anomaly. At a time when enforced assimilation was national policy and First Nations had only recently been accorded the right to vote in federal elections, few Indigenous people made art that was viewed as contemporary within the narrow framework accepted in mainstream cultural circles. Most Indigenous artworks were considered artifacts, better displayed in ethnographic museums.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the federal government had invested heavily in the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative, and its director, James Houston (1921–2005), worked hard to market Inuit soapstone carvings, drawings, and prints as modern artistic expressions. Canadians were being primed to consider Indigenous arts as contemporary. The Canadian Guild of Crafts also supported Indigenous arts, but its shows were typically held in venues other than art galleries. Without government intervention, there appeared to be little appetite for Indigenous art in galleries in the early 1960s.

NORVAL MORRISSEAU: LIFE & WORKby CARMEN ROBERTSON

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Morrisseau’s 1962 exhibition at the Pollock Gallery in Toronto therefore sparked a national news event, in part because of the artist’s racial identity and in part because he was creating contemporary art. Works like Moose Dream Legend, 1962, were hailed as both primitive and modern by critics at the time. Morrisseau’s work demonstrated clear links to the oral narrative traditions of the Anishinaabe in its process and its focus on animals and spirit beings, but also commented on how 150 years of the assimilationist policies of Canada’s Indian Act, which included residential schooling, had visibly erased Indigenous issues and understandings from Canadian public life. Curator Gerald McMaster has described Morrisseau as “a latter-day neoprimitivist” because modern art had rejected all referents to things old or expressly cultural while it celebrated primitivism as a universal muse to the modern.

Morrisseau’s entry onto the art scene can be best described as a rupture in Canadian art history. As the civil rights movement gained momentum in the United States and inspired Native Americans to push for greater equality, and as Indigenous populations in Mexico advanced similar struggles, Canadian Indigenous peoples also organized and confronted government practices. In June 1969, the release of the Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian Policy (a document commonly known as the 1969 White Paper) by the Trudeau government in Ottawa triggered a series of political events. These resulted in the creation of the National Indian Brotherhood and regional factions that challenged the federal government to make changes to a system that was stacked against First Nations people. Artists joined forces, too, to change the racialized ways art was being exhibited in Canada.

In 1967, Indigenous artists were commissioned to create the Indians of Canada Pavilion at Expo 67, a moment now considered pivotal in acknowledg-ing activism and awareness of Indigenous issues in Canada, but Morrisseau left the project when the government officials organizing the exhibition deemed his mural design of bear cubs nursing from Mother Earth too controversial.

ABOVE:

Sacred Buffalo Worshippers, c. 1963-64

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Morrisseau was part of a group called the Professional Native Indian Artists Inc., which was established by Odawa artist Daphne Odjig (1919-2016) in Winnipeg in 1973 and labelled the Indian Group of Seven by the press. Other members included Jackson Beardy (1944–1984), Alex Janvier (b. 1935), Carl Ray (1943–1978), Eddy Cobiness (1933–1996), and Joseph Sanchez (b. 1948), and its purpose was to promote Indigenous arts and foster opportunities for emerging artists.

As early as 1972, anthropologist and artist Selwyn Dewdney (1909–1979) had tried to persuade the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa to add works by Morrisseau to its collection, but his effort was unsuccessful. At the time, the ethnographic Canadian Museum of Man, then in Ottawa (now the Canadian Museum of History, Hull, Quebec), was the Canadian institu-tion that collected contemporary Indigenous art, whereas the National Gallery bought works by non-Indigenous Canadian artists. It had been more than thirty years since Dewdney’s initial request when the National Gallery of Canada purchased its first work by Norval Morrisseau. In 2006, the gallery then made him the subject of its first retrospective exhibition devoted entirely to an Indigenous artist. As art critic Paul Gessel, writing in the Ottawa Citizen, noted under the front-page headline “An Art Pioneer Makes His Final Breakthrough,” “Who would be the first Native artist to be given a show akin to the exhibitions granted such ‘white’ Canadian artists as Tom Thomson and Emily Carr? The consensus among the Aboriginal art community was that Norval Morrisseau...had to be the one.” This media coverage repositioned Morrisseau as a major Canadian artist, validated Indigenous art as contemporary, and helped end the practice of separating Indigenous from mainstream artists in public discourse.

Excerpted from Norval Morrisseau: Life & Work by Carmen Robertson (2016) published by the Art Canada Institute, www.aci-iac.ca. We gratefully acknowledge the ACI’s permission to reproduce this material.

Carmen Robertson is a professor in the Visual Arts Department, Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance at the University of Regina. She is a specialist in contemporary Canadian Indigenous art history, visual culture, and colonial issues. A Lakota-Scottish scholar, she has long pursued and promoted the study of Indigenous arts and culture.

LEFT:

Family Contemplating Unknown, 1980

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ABOVE:

Dialogue Of The Environment, c. 1987

RIGHT:

Norval As Shaman Telling Stories & Legends, 1987

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LEFT:

Men Speaking In Tongues, c. 1974

ABOVE:

Gabe, c. 1999

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ABOVE:

Interdependence Of Water Fowls With Fish, 1990

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LEFT:

Robyne With Dad, Gabe, Riding Cosmic Bear, 1990

ABOVE:

Mother With Children,c. 1980

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ABOVE:

Great Owl, c. 1972

TOP:

Sacred Beaver With Power Lines,1962

BOTTOM:

Bear, Birds & Fish, c. 1999

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ABOVE:

A Tribute To My Beloved Daughter In-Law, 1995-96

RIGHT:

Victoria And Family,1978

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TOP:

Primitive Duck, c. 1960-64

BOTTOM:

Sacred Bear Spirit Image,c. 1999

ABOVE:

Sacred Owl,c. 1970

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ABOVE:

Merman, 1970

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LEFT:

Warrior Transforming,c. 1964

ABOVE:

Bird, 1975

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TOP:

Red Bird,c. 1973

BOTTOM:

Fish Cycle1961

ABOVE:

Artist With Medicine Pouch,c. 1978

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ABOVE:

Ojibway Indian Takes Upon Himself Two Serpents As Guardians For Life (Good & Evil). But Indian, Being Superior Has Control Of These Two Powers At His Choice, 1972

RIGHT:

Thunderbird, c. 1964-67

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Primitive Duck, c. 1960-64Acrylic on paper15 x 22 in., 38.1 x 55.88 cms.Private collection, Arizona; Kinsman Robinson Galleries, Toronto; Private collection, Guelph. For a similar treatment see Norval Morrisseau, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, 1966: “Mating Ducks” executed with stylized wings as well as “Demigod of Death and Decay” both reproduced in exhibition catalogue, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (formerly Musée du Québec), 1966

Fish Cycle, 1961Acrylic on paper18.5 x 23 ins., 46.99 x 58.42 cms.The Pollock Gallery Ltd. label verso; Private collection, Toronto; The Pollock Gallery Ltd., Toronto; Acquired from the artist

Sacred Beaver With Power Lines, 1962Acrylic on kraft board27 x 39.5 ins., 68.58 x 100.33 cms.By descent - Private collection, Toronto; Kinsman Robinson Galleries

Sacred Buffalo Worshippers, c. 1963-64Acrylic on kraft paper31.5 x 49 ins., 80.01 x 124.46 cms.Acquired from the artist while original owner lived in Red Lake (Cochenour) having regard to the recommendation of Dr. Joseph Weinstein. Exhibited Balmertown Public Library, Red Lake, 1966

Warrior Transforming, c. 1964Ink marker on paper22.5 x 13 ins., 57.15 x 33 cms.Private collection, Thunder Bay, ON; Gallery of Fine Arts (purchased 1978), Fort William (Now Thunder Bay); Acquired from the artist

Four Birds, c. 1964Acrylic on paper17.5 x 12 ins., 44.45 x 30.48 cms.By descent - Private collection, Sault Ste. Marie, ON; Acquired from the artist

LIST OF WORKS IN EXHIBITION

Thunderbird, c. 1964-67Acrylic on kraft paper30 x 28 ins., 76.2 x 71.12 cms.By descent - Clark Kostyshyn collection, Thunder Bay, ON; Acquired from the artist

Merman, 1970Acrylic on paper board20 x 32 ins., 50.8 x 81.28 cms.Titled verso by the artist’s hand. Inscribed separately “Fall, 1970 Occupational Therapy Dept., St. Joseph’s Hospital, Thunder Bay, Ont.” Private collection, Thunder Bay, ON; Acquired from the artist

Sacred Owl, c. 1970Acrylic on paper11 x 23.5 ins., 27.94 x 59.69 cms.Titled verso by the artist’s hand. Private collection, North Bay, ON; Acquired from the artist by original owner when traveling with Robert Lavack and Carl Ray

Ojibway Indian Takes Upon Himself Two Serpents As Guardians For Life (Good & Evil). But Indian, Being Superior Has Control Of These Two Powers At His Choice, 1972Acrylic on paper21.5 x 29.5 ins., 54.61 x 74.93 cms.Titled verso by the artist’s hand; signed “Norval” and dated 1972 verso; Private collection, High River, AB; Acquired directly from the artist during 1973 (after Norval participated in the Wounded Knee incident, South Dakota, and ended up in jail)

Great Owl, c. 1972Acrylic on paper11 x 23.5 ins., 27.94 x 59.69 cms.Titled verso by the artist’s hand. Private collection, North Bay, ON; Acquired from the artist by original owner when traveling with Robert Lavack and Carl Ray

ABOVE:

The Thunderbird Motif, The ThunderbirdWas Respected By All First Nation Peoples, 1994

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Red Bird, c. 1973Acrylic on paper15.25 x 19 ins., 38.735 x 48.26 cms. (sight)Private collection, Toronto; The Pollock Gallery Ltd., Toronto; Acquired from the artist

Men Speaking In Tongues, c. 1974Acrylic on artist board40 x 32 ins., 101.6 x 76.2 cms.Private collection, Toronto; The Pollock Gallery Ltd., Toronto; Acquired from the artist. Shown in NFB documentary on Morrisseau

Bird, 1975Acrylic on paper23.25 x 29 ins., 59.055 x 73.66 cms. (sight)Private collection, Toronto; The Pollock Gallery Ltd., Toronto; Acquired from the artist

Victoria And Family, 1978Acrylic on canvas59.5 x 39.25 ins., 151.13 x 99.695 cms.Reproduced p. 153, Sinclair/Pollock, The Art of Norval Morrisseau (Methuen Publications, 1979); Private collection, Toronto; The Pollock Gallery Ltd., Toronto; Acquired from the artist

Artist With Medicine Pouch, c. 1978Graphite on paper18 x 12 ins., 45.72 x 30.48 cms.Private collection, Calgary; Acquired from the artist

Family Contemplating Unknown, 1980Acrylic on canvas30 x 24 ins., 76.2 x 60.96 cms.Titled and dated verso. Versatel corporate collection; Acquired from the artist

Mother With Children, c. 1980Acrylic on canvas59 x 49.75 ins., 149.86 x 126.365 cms.By descent - Clark Kostyshyn collection, Thunder Bay, ON; Acquired from the artist

Norval As Shaman Telling Stories & Legends, 1987Acrylic on canvas95 x 58 ins., 241.3 x 147.32 cms.Exhibited Toronto International Art Fair, Sept 2004; Morrisseau’s Morrisseaus: The Artist’s Collection (Kinsman Robinson Galleries, 2006) Reproduced p. 151, Norval Morrisseau: Return To The House of Invention (Key Porter, 2005); Kinsman Robinson Galleries; Private collection, Toronto; Kinsman Robinson Galleries; Acquired from the artist

Dialogue Of The Environment, c. 1987Acrylic on canvas50 x 48 ins., 127 x 121.92 cms.Bearclaw Gallery, Edmonton; Private collection, Edmonton; Galal Helmy (E.A. Studio), Jasper; Acquired from the artist

Robyne With Dad, Gabe, Riding Cosmic Bear, 1990Acrylic on canvas60 x 53 ins., 152.4 x 134.62 cms.Ttiled verso by the artist’s hand. In reference to Norval’s grandson, Robyne and longtime caregiver, Gabe Vadas; Exhibited “Copper Thunderbird: The Legend” May 4-31, 1991, Kinsman Robinson Galleries; Private collection, Toronto; Kinsman Robinson Galleries; Acquired from the artist

Interdependence Of Water Fowls With Fish, 1990Acrylic on canvas27.5 x 55 ins., 69.85 x 139.7 cms.Ttiled verso by the artist’s hand. Exhibited “Copper Thunderbird: The Legend” May 4-31, 1991, Kinsman Robinson Galleries; Private collection, Toronto; Kinsman Robinson Galleries; Acquired from the artist

Thunderbird And Snake Motif, 1991Ink on mat board32 x 40 ins., 81.28 x 101.6 cms.By descent - Private collection, Muskoka; Kinsman Robinson Galleries; Acquired from the artist

Shaman Preaching To All Things, 1992Acrylic on canvas (4-panel)72 x 96 ins., 182.88 x 243.84 cms.Reproduced pp. 20-21 Norval Morrisseau 2012 Retrospective (Kinsman Robinson Galleries, 2012) Exhibited Norval Morrisseau 2012 Retrospective, Kinsman Robinson Galleries. Private collection, ON; Kinsman Robinson Galleries; Acquired from the artist

The Thunderbird Motif, The Thunderbird Was Respected By All First Nation Peoples, 1994Acrylic on canvas48 x 40 ins., 121.92 x 101.6 cms.Ttiled verso by the artist’s hand. Reproduced p. 18 Honouring First Nations (Kinsman Robinson Galleries, 1994) Private Collection, Toronto; Kinsman Robinson Galleries; Collection of Helen R. Hammond; Acquired from the artist

A Tribute To My Beloved Daughter In-Law, 1995-96Acrylic on canvas59 x 49 ins., 149.86 x 124.46 cms.Reproduced p. 158, Greg A. Hill, Norval Morrisseau: Shaman Artist (National Gallery of Canada, 2006); p. 123, Morrisseau/Robinson, Norval Morrisseau: Return To The House of Invention (Key Porter Books, 2005); Exhibited Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), Santa Fe, NM (2007); The George Gustav Heye Centre, Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, New York, NY (2007); Collection of DeNeen Brown, Washington D.C.; Kinsman Robinson Galleries; Acquired from the artist

Boy With Headdress, c. 1998Acrylic on paper30 x 22 ins., 76.2 x 55.88 cms.Private collection, Burlington, ON

Bear, Birds & Fish, c. 1999Acrylic on paper15 x 22.5 ins., 38.1 x 57.15 cms.Eagle Feather Gallery, Victoria, BC; Private collection, Victoria, BC; Acquired from the artist

Gabe, c. 1999Ink on paper15 x 12 ins., 38.1 x 30.48 cms.In reference to Norval’s longtime caregiver, Gabe Vadas; Titled verso by artist’s hand; Private collection, Burlington, ON

Sacred Bear Spirit Image, c. 1999Ink on paper12 x 15 ins., 30.48 x 38.1 cms.Titled verso by artist’s hand; Private collection, Burlington, ON

Grandson With Bird Headdress, 2000Acrylic on paper22 x 15 ins., 55.88 x 38.1 cms.Private collection, Toronto; Kinsman Robinson Galleries; Acquired from the artist

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Cover: Family Contemplating Unknown, 1980 Art copyright © 2016 Norval Morrisseau EstatePhotography copyright © 2016 Michael Cullen/TPG Digital Art ServicesText copyright © 2016 Art Canada InstitutePublished by Tele-Connect Publications Ltd o/a Kinsman Robinson GalleriesPrinting by F.W. Barrett CompanyGraphic design by Dale BarrettPrinted in Canada

All rights reserved.

Text excerpted from Norval Morrisseau: Life & Work by Carmen Robertson (2016) published by the Art Canada Institute, www.aci-iac.ca. We gratefully acknowledge the ACI’s permission to reproduce this material. No part of this catalogue may be copied, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher.

No

rv

al

Mo

rr

isse

au

108 Cumberland St., Toronto, ON M5R 1A6

T.: 416-964-2374 info@kinsmanrobinson.com kinsmanrobinson.com

Kinsman Robinson GalleRies