Norval Morrisseau

(1932-2007)

Ojibwa First Nation

Born Jean-Baptiste Norman Henry Morrisseau, Norval Morrisseau is one of the most well-known and celebrated Indigenous artists in Canada. This Ahnisnabae artist was born at Sand Point First Nations Reserve, near Thunder Bay, Ontario. Morrisseau was sent to a residential school, as a child, but stayed for only 2 years before leaving and attending a local community school. He married Harriet Kakegamic in 1957, and lived together in northwestern Ontario.

Morrisseau was a self-taught artist who, in the 1960s, originated the painting style referred to as “Woodland Style” or “legend art”. The Woodland Style often features spiritual themes rooted in the artist’s cultural heritage – Morrisseau was interested in Ahnisnabae rock pictography and Midéwiwin birchbark scrolls, referencing them in his art and even painting on birchbark himself at times.

There’s lots of stories that are told in Ojibwa but that wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to draw them-that’s from my own self-my own idea what they look like. – Norval Morrisseau (2005)

Along with Daphne Odjig and Carl Ray, Morrisseau was involved in founding the Indigenous Group of Seven. If you look closely at the three artworks on display in Huron’s Executive Suite, you will see the artist often signed his name in Cree syllabics, “Copper Thunderbird”.

Many of Morrisseau’s early solo exhibitions were held in Toronto, and his work is collected and hung in many Canadian Galleries: Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Nation Gallery of Canada to name a few. In 1978, Morrisseau was made a member of the Order of Canada. Norval Morrisseau died in 2007 in Toronto, Ontario.

Works at Huron